Running Scared
by Anya Maygo
Summary: "I've decided who she falls for (Rock Lee)." Okay, I lied; I still haven't thoroughly decided who this girl falls for. It's probably going to be Neji, actually. Wait for the sequel, which is Shippuden-based.
1. Let Me Introduce Myself

**_Let Me Introduce Myself..._**

* * *

><p>Hi; I'm Miyo. I'm just a quiet twelve-year-old little kunoichi – female ninja, I think – in training.<p>

Just as a brief idea on what stands out most about me, I'm always wearing pink boots and a way oversized yellow sweatshirt with wide sleeves that hide my hands. Oh yeah – I have dark violet hair, and my eyes are blue.

And I was often embarrassed by Naruto. See, even though we're not related, I was living in the same house as him – always have, ever since my big brother Koga was killed when I was five – and I see him as my new big brother. We're about the same age, but when we counted up the months, we found out that he'd turn six before I did, so I sometimes called him "Big Brother" and he, just as "sometimes," called me "Little Sis."

But…he always acts so reckless, and gets into all kinds of trouble.

* * *

><p>Like today: he put graffiti all over our Hokage monument. Iruka-sensei finally dragged him in. I was covering my face with my sleeve in mortification.<p>

I always sat next to Sasuke in class. It wasn't that I liked him or anything, in fact he intimidated me. It was just that…Sakura and Ino always argued over who would sit next to him, so I took the spot just to make them shut up.

I could feel them glaring at me from their places behind me. I pulled my hood up.

_I don't see why Iruka-sensei has to scold Naruto about his failing the last couple graduation exams. I failed, too, each of those times._

Then he told us we had to review the transformation jutsu because of Naruto.

Sakura could do it easy as pie. And…she immediately asked Sasuke if he saw it. I covered my face with my sleeve again.

Sasuke also turned into Iruka-sensei. I already planned to turn into Naruto – why not?

As soon as Naruto stepped up, I covered my eyes with both sleeves. I couldn't watch.

Whatever he did, Iruka-sensei ended up yelling at Naruto.

When I was called up, I set my sleeves together, binding a couple of small straps to keep them together over my hands. I managed to turn into Naruto perfectly, since I knew him so well. He marked me down as good. At least, he _said_ "Very good," and he wrote something. I could only hope it really _was_ good.

* * *

><p>The next day, we were going to try for the graduation exam. The testing would be on the clone jutsu.<p>

Naruto, sitting next to me for once, cringed. I knew why. He'd practiced with me a million times, and the cloning jutsu was his worst.

Honestly, I wasn't that much better, and my ability went way down when I was being tested. It's why I was failing right alongside him: I just couldn't pass the graduation exam!

* * *

><p>I got one half-perfect clone, but that was it. I found Naruto on the swing looking at the school. "How you doing, big brother?"<p>

"Mmm…"

I sat down next to him, recognizing that he didn't really want to talk. Well, considering we two were the only ones who failed, who could blame him?

Then the other sensei from the testing room came over to us, more-or-less asking if he could talk with Naruto alone. When they left, I climbed onto the swing.

_Naruto…I could survive not becoming a ninja; I've only been trying alongside you this whole time for moral support, along with wanting to become the best that I can be. I wear weighted stuff to try to get strong enough to keep up with you. But you – you try so hard, and everyone hates you. I think…I think I'm the only one who cared enough about finding out _why_ to go find the records of our birth year. You have the fox inside you. Just that means you're capable of all the great things you want to accomplish, but it also means that everyone's going to stand in your way. I wish there was something I could do to help you._

* * *

><p>That night, Naruto went out. I tried not to worry, but I stayed awake all night, trying to keep away from my nightmares. That was a losing battle, though. The nightmares practically only stayed away when Naruto was home with me.<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto didn't come back until morning. "Hey there, sis! Notice anything different?"<p>

I rubbed my eyes blearily. "You're…entirely too cheerful for this early in the morning?"

"Nope!" He adjusted something on his head. "Got another guess?"

I blinked at him. Then I grabbed his shirt and pulled him over, squinting through the light at his head.

It was…a leaf headband!

_That_ woke me up. "When did you graduate?"

"Last night! Iruka-sensei saw me do the Shadow-Clone Jutsu perfectly, and he gave me his headband! Believe it! Pretty cool, huh?"

_Naruto…you're so full of yourself…_

I hugged him anyway. "Congratulations. I'd muster more enthusiasm, but I didn't sleep well last night."

His smile vanished. "Nightmares again?"

"Yeah."

Then it was his turn to hug me. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. But I had to become a ninja this time, or I wouldn't have been able to protect you."

* * *

><p>We sat down over breakfast. "By the way," he suddenly said, "there's something you need to know about me if you're going to stay in the same house as me."<p>

I looked at him over my cup of tea. (Actually, I don't normally drink tea; it's something I only have, loaded with sugar, when I didn't sleep well.) "Let me guess: it's got something to do with twelve years ago?"

"How'd you know?"

"I had to know why everyone hated you."

"Then…you know about the nine-tailed fox being inside me?"

I nodded. "And you know what? I don't care. You're still my big brother."

He looked like he was going to burst into tears. Instead, he leaped out of his chair and hugged me again. "Thank you, Miyo! You're the only other person in the whole village who believes in me, and I don't even do enough for you!"

My chair fell over, dumping us both on the floor. I hugged him back, laughing through the flying stars.


	2. Ninja Dolls

**_Ninja Dolls_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

Just a few days later, Naruto went out for orientation. I stayed at home, putting the finishing touches on my collection of student-dolls.

Yeah, I play with dolls and stuffed animals and whatever. I'm just not good enough at yo-yos to use Koga's spiky yo-yo weapon. But it's not like my dolls aren't special. Every doll I have – each about six inches tall and pretty simple in basic design – looks like either a totally covered, "faceless" ninja or like a ninja I've seen before: my classmates, my teachers, the elite ninja – I even have one of the Third Hokage, though I never do anything with that one! These dolls are my main weapons!

What I'm going to tell you, I already tested out on Naruto using the doll I made that looks like him. By channeling my chakra into the doll along a thread that was stuck into the doll's back by a buttonhole-to-button method, I can make it walk around and do stuff. That takes the least amount of chakra, unless I'm letting them operate like their originals in real-time: then I have to add double. Slightly more than that, and I can use my doll to control the person who it looks like, provided they're within my sight range. (Around a corner doesn't matter.) Adding a little more than that means I can work chakra through them to do abilities.

For example, just for kicks I tried using the signs for the Shadow Doppelganger Jutsu while I was operating the Naruto doll, and instead of getting copies of myself with little dolls connected to them, I got a bunch of little Naruto dolls with strings all leading into my sleeve! I don't know what happened to them once they got past the hem of my sleeve, though, because there was still only one long string wrapped around my arm. Well, more than one string, but I was only using one.

Probably the most chakra is expended when I put the doll into a zipper-slot in the back of a larger, slightly more realistic doll – my height, faceless, but with actual fingers on the hands as opposed to small balls on the ends of the arms – and then channel my chakra into it. That turns the larger doll into a perfect copy of the person my little doll looks like. I don't do that much, though. When I'm using that doll (I named it "Kai" just for kicks) by itself, I'm putting my thread's button into a small slot on its neck and making it look like me – a cheap Doppelganger Jutsu.

My stuffed animals are special, too, though I'll tell you more on them later.

* * *

><p>Anyways, as I was adding some last touches to my Shikamaru doll, I heard voices in the dining room. Naturally, I went to look, considering one sounded like Hokage.<p>

The other was Kakashi - an elite ninja!

"So this is where Naruto lives."

"Yes, he'll be on your team along with Sakura and Sasuke of the Uchiha clan. Good luck, you'll need it."

I watched as Kakashi walked over to the table and picked up the milk carton, studying it. "This milk is way past its expiration date. One sip of this and he'll be running to the bathroom all day."

That explained why I hadn't seen him yet. I mostly ignored that milk carton, so it made sense that that particular booby trap had caught him and not me.

"Seems like this kid's just one big problem."

I felt compelled to stand up for him. Sure, this was the Third Hokage and an elite ninja we were talking about, but I couldn't just let them belittle Big Brother. I grabbed up Sasha, my stuffed cat, and went into the dining room.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Kakashi<strong>_

"Your pardon, sir, but he's _not_ a big problem."

We turned to look in the direction of that quiet girl's voice. Standing there was a girl who couldn't have been more than twelve, though her innocent face, pink boots, stuffed cat and oversized sweatshirt made her seem younger.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Miyo Diatra. Naruto Uzumaki's sister."

I studied her a bit more carefully. She clearly wasn't actually related to Naruto, because she didn't look like him and besides, her last name was different. It _was_ familiar, though.

"Are you related to Koga Diatra?"

"My big brother."

I went over and just stood next to her. "You mind explaining how you came here and into Naruto's family?"

She shrugged under that sweater and sat down at the table. I sat next to her, to try to seem less intimidating; she was clearly nervous around people she didn't know.

"When the news came to me about Koga's death…I was numb. I didn't know what to think. Then the next day I…decided that I'd be better off with a family, or something that resembled a family. I could tell that Naruto needed a friend, so I went to him." She shrugged again. "Then I found out that sleeping in the same room with him kept nightmares away and…" Then she went silent again.

I was a little surprised. "You noticed that everyone avoided Naruto…and you chose _him_ as your new family?"

"He needed a friend._ I_ needed a brother. I didn't care that everyone hated Naruto." Once again, she shrugged. "Besides, I know now why everyone hates him, and it's only left me _more_ determined to stand by him."

That brought me up short. "You know?"

"I slipped into Records and looked it up. The demon fox was bound inside him. But I could care less. Naruto is Naruto, and he's still my big brother."

Movement on the floor distracted me. It was a tiny doll that looked just like Naruto. And it was moving by itself! It ran across the floor and under the table – I leaned over to track its movement – hopped up onto her left boot and gripped her ankle with its arms like it was…hugging her?

I leaned over and caught hold of the little thing's shirt. Holding it in the air for her to see, I remarked, "I see."

She stared. Then she got a confused expression on her face. "How'd you get out here?" she asked, addressing the doll.

"It ran. Do you have any explanation?"

She stared at me. Then her face grew thoughtful as she took the doll back from me. "It might have something to do with Naruto's energy. He held the thing once, and it's possible that this little guy picked up on the fox's energy and…it's partially come to life."

I smiled slightly. "At least now, if Naruto actually passes and becomes a ninja, you'll be able to survive his not being here nights." I held up a cautionary finger. "Just…don't let anyone else know that this doll can move by itself."

She suddenly laughed. "Don't tell _me_ that!" she waved the doll at me. "Tell Naruto!"

I took the doll back from her and stared the little thing in the face, trying not to feel too silly. "Naruto, you must not let anyone except Miyo, myself or the Third Hokage see you walking around on your own. Is that clear?"

It stared back at me for a second. Then it nodded.

"Good. We understand each other." I gave the doll back to her. "And now I'd better get ready to meet Naruto for real. Will he be as understanding as the doll?"

Miyo scrunched up her face for a second. Then she shook her head. "Not really."

"I figured you'd say that." The Third Hokage and I left then. I suspected that there was more to her choosing to live with Naruto so suddenly, but now just wasn't the time to push the matter.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

I left the room, holding Sasha in one hand and Little Naruto in the other. I couldn't believe that the little doll could move on its own!

Actually...I could. See, I'd made a doll of the person who haunted my nightmares and locked it in a box when I was ten, trying to symbolically shut away my nightmares. Not only did it not work, but I got to really regret making that doll: it made the box thump around at night, as if it was trying to get out. At least Little Naruto was a nice little doll.

It wasn't moving right now. I wasn't really expecting it to. Still, I asked it, setting it down in the middle of the room, "Could you set out the other dolls into their teams? It wouldn't surprise me if you remember better than Big Brother."

It started running around, pushing and tugging the other dolls into groups of three. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji all ended up on one team, and Hinata, Shino and Kiba were in another.

With a nod of thanks, I gathered up each doll team and stuck them in their own boxes, lined up. I also picked up Little Sakura and Little Sasuke and stuck them into a box as well – Sakura in front of Sasuke, with the only open slot in front of her. "You getting in?"

Little Naruto climbed in and then just stopped moving again.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, I heard Naruto come back. He sounded somewhere between excited and apprehensive.<p>

"Hey, Big Brother," I came in. "What's up?"

"I met my new sensei. His name's Kakashi."

I ran into our room again, grabbed a doll, and ran back. "This guy?"

"Yeah. He showed up late, and he didn't manage to dodge my eraser! How am I supposed to become the next Hokage with him as my teacher?"

I shrugged. "If I had to guess, I'd say that your sensei's a lot like me: he puts on an act to throw people off."

He stared at me a second. "You put on an act?"

I very deliberately hid my hands in my sleeves, keeping them close to my body, shrank back, shuffled my boots and blinked wide eyes at Naruto, actually succeeding in looking up at him, even though we're about the same height.

"Oh – _that's_ your act?" He laughed. "You're good!"

* * *

><p>He was gone early the next day, and I was left to my own devices. When it got to be after lunch, though, I went out to look for him.<p>

I found him. He was tied to a log and still kicking and yelling.

"Hey, Big Brother. Need help?"

"Huh? Oh, hey, sis. Uh…yeah, I'd like some help."

I pulled my knife from its sheath and cut the ropes. "So, you want to explain to me what's going on?"

He grinned and straightened his headband again. "I'm a ninja!"

"You said that _last_ time."

"Well, now I'm really a shinobi! We passed a teamwork test!"

I studied him carefully. "First try, or second?"

We stared at each other for a second. Then we once again burst out laughing.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: There's going to be a grand total of three dolls - at any given time - that will move on their own, but _which_ three? Well...telling you would be a spoiler.**


	3. Adventures From Home

_**Adventures From Home**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

…Naruto complained to me a few days in a row about his missions: how they were just pathetic little jobs.

Then, one day, he came running in screaming in some mix of excitement and anger. I grabbed his shoulders. "Come on, Naruto: give me the good news first, then the bad news."

He took a deep breath. "We got a higher-level mission. It's bodyguarding this really rude old bridge-builder guy."

"I see." Actually, I did see. Naruto got very little respect, so this guy's attitude was yet another sting that Naruto had decided he wasn't going to put up with.

"We leave first thing tomorrow." Then Naruto did something he's never done with me before: he took hold of my hands and stared practically right into my eyes, with no sign of his usual hyperactivity. "We're going to be gone for a few days. Do you think you can handle my being gone so long?"

I stared at him for a few minutes. Then I nodded.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Naruto<strong>_

I woke up before Miyo, for once. After I got dressed and had breakfast, I went back over to her, carrying the little doll that looked like me. I set it down leaning against her head. "Watch over her for me, will you?" Then I ran out the door. "Naruto Uzumaki is ready for anything, believe it!"

_**Miyo**_

When I woke up, it was with Little Naruto leaning against my face. As soon as it felt me move, it looked over its shoulder at my eyes.

"Hmm," I mumbled. Technically, that was supposed to be "Hi." Most days I wake up with "morning lockjaw," my name for when I just don't want to open my mouth. A sip of something warm always cures that, though.

I had Little Naruto sitting on the table looking at me while I ate. Once I'd woken up a bit more, I addressed the doll. "I don't want to hear about any battles that Naruto ends up in, but if anything interesting seems about to happen, could you get my attention so that I can set up a real-time rep for it?"

It nodded, waving a fist up near its head like a salute.

* * *

><p>It took a few days of going to school before anything interesting happened. Little Naruto got his team together, complete with Kakashi, and pulled them all out into the forest – or at least, that was where he was going when I found him, and I helped him get there.<p>

Connecting them to my chakra, I got to watch Kakashi teach my friends how to climb trees without using their hands. Naruto used too little chakra, and fell off the tree. Sasuke used too much after a few steps, and the tree's own energy repelled him. Sakura made it to a branch.

"Interesting…" I disconnected the strings with a casual flick of the wrist, catching Little Sakura and Mini Kakashi as they fell out of the tree. "I ought to try that."

* * *

><p>I spent the rest of that day practicing climbing without using my hands – and falling out of trees – and all of the remaining days until finally Naruto came home…looking like he'd been through the wringer.<p>

"So…how'd it go?" That question sounded totally lame, but it was all I could think to ask.

His excited one-breath answer told me enough. "We ended up fighting these really mean assassins, and then this rogue ninja named Zabuza came to attack us, and we almost had him beat when this kid younger than me took him down, but Zabuza wasn't really dead, so Kakashi-sensei had to train us to use our chakra more efficiently by having us climb trees without using our hands, and then we had to fight Zabuza again, along with that kid who'd taken him down, only the kid was fighting on Zabuza's side, and then he killed Sasuke while the guy was defending me, only Sasuke wasn't really dead! And then Kakashi-sensei killed the kid when he'd gotten between him and Zabuza, and then Zabuza killed the guy who'd hired him to try to kill the bridge builder, and Kakashi-sensei and I scared off the rest of the thugs who'd come to kill all of us!" Naruto stopped then and took a deep breath.

"So the mission was a success?" I asked to try to end the monologue.

He punched a fist at me. "Believe it!" Then he surprised me by going serious again. "And what about you? How'd you hold up while I was gone?"

I shrugged. "I did fine. Climbing trees kept me sane. I can get to the top of a tree without using my hands."

He stared at me a second. "You know about the tree-climbing exercise?"

"I didn't until I did a real-time check on how you were doing and found Kakashi teaching it to you."

Then he grinned. "So Kakashi-sensei was teaching you, too?"

"Yup!"

* * *

><p>Several more days passed. Naruto's team did several small jobs, and I suspected that Naruto was failing at standing out positively, and who cares what he tells me.<p>

Then I was out one day, carrying around a few supplies (I was planning on making some more personalized ninja dolls, and I figured there'd be some new people coming in) and I heard Naruto and some kids screaming. Hopping behind some bushes, I watched.

Sakura was chasing them with murderous intent in her eyes. Apparently someone had said the wrong thing, and I was laying bets on Naruto.

Then they ran headlong into some strangers! One was a blond woman, the other a man wearing a lot of black and with markings on his face.

I figured Naruto could help delay the guy threatening Konahomaru until I could pitch in, so I sat down and started quickly making some doll copies of the two. I'd gotten fast, so I had both finished within a minute of seeing them. Still, I wasn't sure what to do in order to help.

I was relieved that Sasuke turned up when he did, perched in a tree like some kind of dangerous squirrel and tossing a rock, hitting the guy's hand with it! He had another one up there with him.

"You're a long way from home," he remarked to the two strange ninja, "and you're way out of your league."

Sakura went bonkers, of course; even more so when Sasuke just killed the rock he was holding, crushing it into dust. I'll admit to being impressed with the strength he showed right there, but Sakura was just embarrassing.

The guy, Kankuro, was all ready to fight Sasuke when suddenly –

"Kankuro, back off."

That voice – it came from the tree that Sasuke was sitting in – and there was a stranger standing upside down on a branch on the other side of the trunk from my friend!

My hands moved on their own accord, throttling details onto another doll. _Strange clothes with a headband that has the symbol of the village of Sand on it tied onto a strap, a gourd on his back – probably hollow and filled with something – short reddish hair, no eyebrows, serious black rings around his pale blue eyes, serious expression, and a red tattoo of the symbol…agh, it's hard to tell while he's upside-down, but I think that's the one for "love" over his…left eye. He's sure spooky!_

"Uh…" Kankuro was spooked. "Hey, Gaara!"

_Hmm…so _that's_ his name. Someone with an aura that spooky has to have something different about him. I…think I might be too scared to show him the doll._

Still…I couldn't just do _nothing_: everyone else I'd made a doll for, I'd left the thing where they'd be able to find it, and stayed close enough to hear what they had to say about it. I tracked with my eyes where they'd likely end up walking, chakra-walked all three dolls out to those points, and yanked the buttons free again, making them fall down in the road. All the while, I kept one eye on the ninja from Sand.

Kankuro was trying to make excuses for why he'd tried picking on my friends. Then Gaara said probably the scariest thing ever:

"Shut up or I'll kill you."

I sat perfectly still, positive he could see me from his vantage point.

Gaara apologized to Sasuke for his team, came down to the ground – right at about the point where I predicted he'd walk from to reach my doll of him – and they started to go further into our village.

Sakura stopped them, asking what they were doing here.

It was the girl who answered. The three of them were here for the Chunin Exam.

And…something went between Gaara and Sasuke: something I didn't fully understand, being a girl. Evidently, they saw each other as rivals.

The whole Sand team took one leap, clearing the line of sight of the Naruto team. I ran alongside them, hiding in the bushes and watching.

Sure enough, Gaara actually stepped on his little double in his landing, and the landing positions of the other two set the dolls right in front of them. Kankuro and the girl did pick theirs up and study them. I stayed ducked down, trying to avoid notice.

"These are actually pretty good," the girl remarked. "I wonder…"

Kankuro sounded a little more suspicious. "Someone's watching us."

Then Gaara spoke. I was too far hidden in the bushes to see if he'd picked his up. "I know. It's a kunoichi. And she wants these back."

_How'd he know – _Then something landed on my head! "AACK!" I grabbed it quickly and pulled it off.

It was the Gaara doll.

"Well," the girl walked over and looked into my hiding place, "and what kind of a place is this for a little girl?"

I stared up, the Gaara-doll vanishing into my sleeves. I was terrified. _How'd Gaara know I was here? And what's going to happen to me now?_

"Oh, get up. _I'm_ not going to hurt you." She held the two remaining Sand-ninja-dolls out to me. "Gaara says you want these back, so I'm giving them back to you. I must say, you're good."

I slowly held out my hand, standing up. "Th-thank you."

"We must keep going," Gaara suddenly said, leaping on.

The girl gave an annoyed look after the two boys. Then she caught my sleeve, dropped the two dolls into it, and whispered, "My name's Temari." Then she headed off again chasing her teammates.

I stood there, stunned at my sheer luck. Then I ran all the way back home. I'd had enough adventure for one day.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: If Miyo'd actually been able to finish the thought up there, it would have been "How'd he know that?"**


	4. Chunin Exams, part 1

**_Chunin Exams, part 1_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

If my dolls are going to move on their own at all, it happens within three days of them being made. I figured _that_ out with the doll in the locked box. So I finished the Gaara-doll's hollow thin-wood gourd and tied it onto his back, and then set him and his team down in a row on my desk. The little gourd had a flat bottom, and was just tall enough for Little Gaara to be able to sit…kind of. Empty, it wasn't heavy enough to stay up if something just barely touched it.

Naruto was excited about being picked for going into the chunin exam, though he was annoyed at being ignored in favor of Sasuke.

"Well," I replied, trying to make him feel better, "if they ignore you, then you can come from behind for a surprise win."

That made him feel a little better.

* * *

><p>Three days later, I went back over to the dolls and studied them. None of them had moved. With a sigh, I picked up Mini Temari and Little Kankuro and stuck them into a box like I had for Naruto's team. Then I picked up Little Gaara.<p>

Almost as soon as I did, I knew something was up. His gourd was heavier, like it was full of something.

I got out a cup, pulled out the small rubber cork from the gourd and flipped the whole doll upside down, and the contents spilled into the cup.

_Sand. Why aren't I more surprised?_

I set everything down on the table, making sure Little Gaara was sitting, and just watched him for a second. Nothing happened.

After another minute of watching, I went to get some ramen. Thanks to Naruto, some is always around.

I went back into my room and stopped short.

The cup was empty. Little Gaara was sitting in the same spot, but the gourd was in front of him, between his little legs, and he was leaning on it a bit.

I glared at him. "You are mocking me."

Movement out of the corner of my eye attracted my attention. Little Naruto was sitting there, his hands about where his mouth would be – I don't give my dolls very large mouths, and often they're just small X's – and his head was twitching like it was having some sort of seizure. He was laughing, or he might as well have been.

"Did I make your day?" Not waiting for an "answer," I left the room again.

* * *

><p>Finally, the day of the exam was here. Naruto ran off for the big day, and I was sitting back with Little Naruto and a bunch of my dolls, watching what was going on using real-time.<p>

_Okay…everyone's in position…_ This took the most chakra, because I was putting it into the room itself and calling the dolls into real-time position in relation to my "set," a box I'd made look like the school building, with proper floors and sized for the dolls.

The first interesting thing to happen was Rock Lee. I always had fun watching that doll – he had a tendency to swing his arms around and twitch spastically. Since I'd seen him in action, I knew he was always like that: overly dramatic. I still remembered when I showed him the doll.

"_It's a marvelous likeness!" He held it out at arm's length and gave it thumbs-up, grinning and winking at it._

Neji hadn't been nearly as impressed. Tenten had thought hers was cute, though. _"And you did all this from memory?"_ At the time, I'd only seen them one time prior.

Well…saying Neji wasn't impressed is stretching it. But he had a pretty mean thing to say to me:

"_Interesting…but you have too much time on your hands."_

I had seriously considered walking him into a wall for that one.

Anyway, after a bunch of talk – at least, I _assume_ it was talk, since I couldn't hear anything – Team Seven showed up in the area. Lee demonstrated his speed, and then…said something to Sakura, if what I could see was anything to go by. It looked like he was turning on the charm.

I was disappointed. Then I wondered why; it wasn't like I was interested in him or anything…

…Was I?

Anyway, Little Sakura shook her head violently, getting Lee to droop. Yes, _droop_ – he was hanging practically his whole upper body!

And of course, Little Naruto laughed his head-seizure laugh. I was laughing, too, though, so it wasn't that big a deal.

Little Sasuke ended up getting all the attention, causing Naruto to act mad.

Then Sakura dragged them off towards the third floor.

Lee, for some reason, followed Big Brother and his team, and then…if what I was seeing was anything to go by…challenged Sasuke to a battle, flirted with Sakura, and then whipped Naruto.

I'm not too surprised that he whipped Naruto…Naruto asked for it. Not sure how, but he did. Even funnier was that Lee wasn't even trying!

Then Lee started fighting _Sasuke_…and whipping the pants off the little doll! It had me relieved when Guy-sensei showed up to break them up. Sakura caught Sasuke as he fell – an entertaining move, since I know Sasuke's bigger than Sakura.

There was a lot of talking after that, since they were standing around for a few minutes. Then Guy-sensei left, and Lee left soon after.

* * *

><p>Finally, they got into the classroom. Kakashi-sensei made some comments to them outside, and then they met up with their old classmates and an odd ninja named Kabuto.<p>

Oh, I knew about him. Not much, though. Enough to have a doll of him, but that's about it. I'm pretty proud of the work I did on his glasses.

Then a small fight broke out, one where Kabuto got hurt, before Ibiki could break it up.

No, I don't really know him. Still...I have a doll for every ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village.

And…evidently the first part was a written exam, Naruto's worst nightmare.

I pulled the cord from the set, causing all the dolls to droop. Even Little Naruto, although he recovered quickly and looked up at me.

"Come get me five minutes before the test's end, okay? There's no point in my sitting around for an hour watching you all sit around for an hour, and I need the five minutes to clear out all the ones who've left."

He nodded…though if a doll could radiate worry, he was.

I went off to sew some changes on my stuffed animals.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: I will do something from another's POV during the exam, but only once I hit a point where she can't real-time watch. And there will be a point where she can't real-time watch.**_

_**Oh - episodes 21-24 take credit.**_


	5. Chunin Exams, part 2

**_Chunin Exams, part 2_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

At around four ten, Little Naruto came over and jumped around until I looked at him. Then I went over and told my set through my chakra, _Places…_

Lots of dolls cleared out, and Little Naruto went back to his seat, still trembling. His team was still there, along with all the other rookies, Lee and his team, and Gaara's team minus Kankuro – wait – here he was, coming back into the room.

I wasn't surprised about any except Naruto's team. Not that I had any ill will towards them, but…Naruto wasn't that good at written tests.

Then again, I didn't know the rules, so who was I to judge?

Ibiki said something to them, if his pacing and pointing around at the classroom was anything to go by.

After a full minute of motionless silence, several genin dolls raised their hands and left the room.

Naruto raised his hand…and then slammed it back down on the table, fixing his eyes on Ibiki! He even stood up! Then he sat back down, crossing his arms.

After a nod session along the watchers…I don't know what happened.

There was a lot of silence, which meant Ibiki was explaining what was going on.

Then Naruto started celebrating and –

Something crashed through a painted-on window and into the room, throwing a cloth up to separate Ibiki from the rest of the classroom!

And standing there in front of the cloth was…

_Hey…that's Anko – the doll who keeps floor-diving from the Teacher Shelf!_ I'd wake up in the morning and find her on the floor in front of what I'd dubbed the Teacher Shelf. All the top-level ninja were there: Guy, Kakashi, Iruka, and of course the third Hokage. Every time I find her on the floor, I put her back on the shelf. But the very next morning, she'd be on the floor again. It got to be a morning ritual: get up in the morning, and put her back on the shelf. At least the locked box had stopped thumping at night.

This was technically the first time I'd ever used her. She moved like Naruto – loudly. ("Loudly" equals broad gestures when I'm referring to my dolls.)

They all left the room. I pulled my cord free and every doll fell down except Little Naruto. He jumped onto the mini-superstructure, and then up to catch my sleeve. I kept him from falling, and he looked up at me.

"It's okay, little guy." Clearly something was bothering Little Naruto, but because he couldn't talk, all I could do to try to reassure him was drop him into my sleeve.

* * *

><p>Naruto came back that night, after I'd put my stuff away. He looked like he was in shock.<p>

"Hey, Big Brother. What's up?"

"The second proctor, Anko, she…she says she's going to cut our number in half tomorrow!"

I thought back to the sheer number of dolls that were left in the classroom. "She thinks…she can get seventy-eight down to…thirty-nine?" Even to my ears, that sounded…a little off for some reason. Still… "I don't think I'll try to real-time this one."

"Huh?"

"I tried real-timing the first part of the exam, but a classroom has nothing to watch, so I actually stopped watching. If that's one extreme, then the second part's likely to be the other extreme: outdoors. I have trouble real-timing outdoors stuff."

"Oh. Okay."

Somehow I knew I was going to have some sleepless nights over this.

* * *

><p>While I was trying to sleep, Kakashi-sensei came over and slipped something into Little Naruto's arms. I didn't bother showing that I was awake; it looked like a note, possibly saying something about where, and maybe the basics of how, the second exam was taking place.<p>

I was right. And it didn't make me feel any better.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Naruto<strong>_

The next day, Proctor Anko took us to our next test site: the Forest of Death!

Well…Miyo said that the next stage would probably be outside.

Then Proctor Anko threw her knife past me, cutting my face – and then…ugh! I can't even say what she did next, but it was creepy!

Then she handed out consent forms, because we might not come back! I was passing some of them out, since I was in front.

_Miyo…I've gotta go through with this!_

It was a survival test, and a no-holds-barred battle to get both scrolls, and we had to be out there five days!

_Miyo, I hope you got warning somehow._

She told us the rest of the rules, and how we could end up disqualified. Good to know.

"Oh, and I have one more word of advice," Anko added before we all filled out our forms, "Just don't die!"

Finally, we got our heaven scroll and picked our gate: Number Twelve.

* * *

><p>Right at two thirty, we ran inside the Forest of Death!<p>

It wasn't too long before we heard someone screaming. Someone who wasn't quite as good as we were, I guess.

_**Sasuke**_

Naruto ran off for personal business, and some other ninja tried to fool us into thinking he was Naruto. But he made some small mistakes, and I saw right through it, beating him flat.

After I pointed out his mistakes, he showed himself, and we managed to fight him to the ground and find Naruto again.

In order to prepare for the possibility of separating again, I made a password for us to use. I figured someone was listening, so I made it a complicated password that Naruto wouldn't have a prayer of remembering.

* * *

><p>Sure enough, when we got separated by a gust of wind, someone else tried to take Naruto's place.<p>

_**Miyo**_

I noticed Little Naruto "giggling" for some reason. "Okay, what's up?"

He ran to my toy box and tapped the side.

I opened it and helped him look in.

He hopped down and tapped my…stuffed snake? Sure, that thing wasn't just any old snake: its jaws were hinged, and there were hollow needles that could have poison injected through them as fangs – just don't ask how I got a hold of two hollow surgical needles. Told you my stuffed animals were special, each one's different.

I pulled out the snake and just dropped it on the floor with Little Naruto.

He ran over, pulled the jaws open, stepped inside and dropped the upper jaw – on himself!

I stared for a minute. "Naruto just got eaten by a giant snake?"

The top of the snake's head bobbed. Apparently he was nodding in there.

I stared a little longer. Then I started snickering. "And he's going to get out of that just fine. What a goof!"

_**Naruto**_

I finally made that snake explode, and I ran to find my friends fighting that creepy woman from earlier, and I got to save Sasuke!

"Oh, and by the way, what was that password again?"

_**Sakura**_

Leave it to Naruto to pull a rescue stunt like that. I don't remember all that happened after that, but Sasuke got bitten by that creepy woman, and we lost both her scroll and our own! I was left guarding both of the guys, who were unconscious.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

A couple days later, Iruka-sensei came by to see me. "Hey."

I looked up from the stuffed baku I had in my lap. "Hey."

"Can I take you out for ramen? I need to talk to you."

I laughed a little at his method of choice for getting me to a public spot, but stood up, shoved Snoozer into my right sleeve – he only barely fit in there – and went with him.

At the shop, Iruka was silent for a long minute. I hadn't quite gotten to the point where I wanted to say something before…

"I've noticed that you're capable of using the Shadow-Clone Jutsu outside of the Graduation Exam."

That was a statement, so I didn't bother answering.

"Do you have stage fright?"

That was so not-quite-right that I started laughing! "No!"

He stared at me for another minute after I calmed down. Then he asked, "Then why have you been failing right next to Naruto? I almost thought it was moral support, but for the sheer terror that you have on your face while you're trying to sign past those sleeves."

I sighed. "I met a ninja named Orochimaru when I was five. He knew Koga. He said he'd come to find me again once I graduated and became a chunin. He scared me."

I knew Orochimaru was an outlaw of the highest sort: I looked him up after that meeting and twenty-seven identical nightmares about him. This was not the complete story, and that last sentence was an understatement, but it was the prudent stuff.

Sensei fell silent again. He stayed silent for a full five minutes this time. Then he spoke. "I see."

"I just don't think I'm ready to face him again." Then I got up and left. I'd gotten really quick in my sweatshirt and boots, so I could only imagine how fast I was when I left those items behind!

* * *

><p>The next morning, Little Naruto walked over to me carrying – well, dragging – a small package that was easily the same size as him.<p>

I picked both of them up and opened the package.

Then I froze. The package was a leaf headband!

Unfolding it made a piece of paper fall to the floor. Picking it up, I read:

"_Miyo, I know you're qualified to graduate, and I believe you're ready for this, even if you don't agree with me. Iruka."_

I stared at the note and the headband for a long time. Then I dropped the headband into my left sleeve. "I'm not quite ready to wear this, no matter what Iruka-sensei says. I'll hang onto it, though."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: The full story will come when she finally tells...someone else. Not sure who yet, but she tells a grand total of five people at least part of the story.**_


	6. Chunin Exams, part 3 point 1

**_Chunin Exams, part 3.1_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

"Miyo," Lee said to me, his eyes as gentle as his brows would allow. "You are so beautiful and kind. And yet you seem so scared. I vow to protect you with my life!"

"Oh, Lee…thank you."

He took me into his strong arms and we just stood there. I felt safe in his embrace.

And then my jutsu ended.

I clicked my stopwatch, twitched it out of my sleeve and looked at it over Kai's shoulder. "So. I can hold Kai in a transformation jutsu looking like someone else for ten minutes. Nice to know." I sighed, pulling Little Lee out of Kai's back. "Too bad that'll never happen in real life: Lee's seen Sakura and it's doubtful he'll notice me."

Then I heard a bell start ringing.

I'd set out a small dinger bell like what you see in hotel lobbies, so that Little Naruto could get my attention easier. And right now, he was ringing it like crazy.

"Wha – oh! Naruto finished the second part of the exam?"

He rang the bell three times in a row, very "Ding! Ding! Ding! Correct answer!" And then he looked randomly at my Third Hokage doll while pointing at the closet.

I threw Kai across the room and opened the closet. All my sets, made of cardboard and so that they can be stored two-dimensional and built up in three-D, were in there.

Naruto ran in and pointed up, jumping up and down at the same time.

* * *

><p>Trial and error had me getting out one of the larger indoor battlefields.<p>

I set it up, connected my string, and thought, _Places…_

Opening my eyes, I was looking at practically every teacher – plus some faceless stand-ins – the Third Hokage, and seven different teams.

_Team Naruto, Team Shino, Team Shikamaru, Team Lee, Team Sound, Team Gaara, and Team Kabuto._ One of the teachers, though, just…bugged me. Something about him didn't feel right. He felt…

I glanced at my locked box. It was shivering. Shivering was the only way to describe the movement.

Then I turned my attention back to the set.

Anko made one declaration, and then gestured to Hokage. He stepped forward and started gesturing.

He gestured for a long time. I caught myself yawning. _It's such a drag when I can't hear anything._

Then Gaara very pointedly cocked his head.

_Thank you, Gaara, for getting us right to the point._

Then Hayate jumped forward, requesting to explain, I suppose.

He'd never looked very well, and that was captured by my doll. He ended up coughing a little before continuing with some gestures.

Something was bugging Sasuke. And Sakura was trying to talk him out of whatever. She was begging him, _begging him_, to do whatever.

He finally covered her mouth.

And Kabuto held his hand up! _Wha?_

He just…left. No explanation. I was watching him with a worried feeling in my stomach. The rest of his team was still there.

* * *

><p>After some more discussion between Sakura and Sasuke, and some exchange between Sasuke and Naruto, the exams continued.<p>

A panel opened on my field. I knew there was a display there, but I didn't have a display here – I had to go by sight.

Two people stepped forward. One was Sasuke! The other was Yoroi, I think.

_I can understand everybody wanting to get Sasuke out of the way…but I suspect this first match was rigged._

Everyone else moved to the upper level, and after a quick exchange between Sasuke and Kakashi, the match started.

And it quickly turned weird. Sasuke caught Yoroi, but then Yoroi did something to him! And kept doing it!

I carefully judged the energy I was sending into the dolls. _He's…draining Sasuke's chakra!_

I kept glancing over at that mystery teacher.

Finally, Sasuke kicked the guy off! And then he spent his time dodging the guy's hand. Naruto started waving around, no doubt yelling his head off. Sasuke looked back, and then suddenly his attitude changed!

Then he managed to kick the guy into the air!

Lee suddenly pointed at his chest. Either that, or he thought he was going to have a heart attack. Either way, he definitely recognized the move. He'd better, because it was one of his.

Suddenly, a strange mark like fire started up onto Sasuke's face and he stiffened! He was in the air high enough for me to see that!

Then it went back under his collar, with a definite twitch of his head that said it was pure will, and then he pounded the guy in midair!

He ended up on his face, but he won! He was declared the winner!

Then Kakashi kept him from falling over backwards and Naruto started waving around hyperactive.

Sasuke looked at Naruto while he was waving. Then he just waved Naruto off.

Gaara started shaking. And Kankuro turned to look at him, leaving me just imagining the worry on his face.

Then Kakashi dragged Sasuke out of the room. When they left the room and went a few steps away, both fell over, cut off from my active chakra.

I caught up Little Sasuke and yanked down his collar.

On his left shoulder was a mark: three small circles with tails on them set in a triangle. And I hadn't put it there.

_Not this again…and I don't even know what the _first_ one means!_ Anko had one of these marks, and I didn't dare ask _her_ about it. _I'll have to ask Sasuke. A daunting thought, that._

Then I returned my attention to the exam.

* * *

><p>The next fight was, evidently, between Shino and one of the Sound ninja: one with broken arms.<p>

Then the Sound teacher just…left! He reappeared outside the active range, and he fell over.

_What's that about?_

The fight started with a bang – that sound ninja could actually use one arm, and he blasted Shino alongside the face!

Actually, I knew that Shino had a signature move of some sort, but it wasn't easily revealed by the doll.

Shino stood up again. And I think he was using his signature technique.

Anyway, Shino ended up winning using that move. Somehow, he got that guy's arms to blow off!

Then Lee looked at Neji, and Neji used his Byakugan at Shino. What else would he be doing right then?

Whatever he saw, it got him to rock his head back so violently that it was obvious he wasn't expecting to see…whatever it was that he saw.

And whatever he told Lee, Lee hadn't been expecting to hear it, because he jerked so hard that he seemed in danger of falling over, one hand covering his mouth.

* * *

><p>The field was cleared, Shino TO'ed Kiba, and the next fight was between Kankuro and Kabuto's remaining teammate. Gaara twitched his head in a manner that screamed contempt. Contempt for the guy Kankuro was fighting, or for Kankuro himself?<p>

Kankuro pulled his wrapped puppet thing off his back. It seemed fuller than I'd made it. _Did my chakra help him pull some sort of switch?_

Suddenly, I suspected I knew his basic strategy.

The freak managed to get Kankuro in a stranglehold, twisting around him!

The guy broke Kankuro's neck…and then it turned out to be a puppet!

_Kankuro's a puppetmaster – like me!_

And with the level that the guy was being squeezed, his bones were not going to survive that.

Kankuro was made the winner.

* * *

><p>Next up was, of all people, Sakura versus Ino!<p>

_This should be a walk in the park for them – they fight over Sasuke all the time!_

The fight got going insanely quickly. At first, neither of them was really trying. Then both girls put their headbands across their foreheads and started the fight for real!

* * *

><p>The battle went on for ten minutes, and yet I didn't get tired! A lot of Ino's tricks went past me. It surprised me when she cut her hair, but that hadn't been as surprising as when I'd sent chakra through the Sakura doll and its hair just suddenly fell shorter like it had been cut.<p>

I suspect that one point, Ino possessed Sakura and was going to force her to surrender, but then Naruto started waving around and yelling, and Sakura actually forced Ino back out!

That match ended in a draw – both got knocked out.

Ino's team was worried about her, and Naruto and Lee were both worried about Sakura. It made me feel a little sad.

* * *

><p>The next round was between Temari and Tenten. Lee was waving around and apparently cheering. What a goof. Worse was that Guy was encouraging him.<p>

Ino and Sakura woke up before the match really started, so they could watch.

Naruto wasn't happy with being stuck in the cheering section, because he was covering his ears.

Tenten was the only doll who could create her own weapons…and she was missing every time she threw a weapon! Temari blew each attack down! And in the end, Tenten lost!

Tenten impressed me, but she still lost because Temari could fly on that fan of hers and control whirlwinds!

Temari threw Tenten and Lee caught her. Then he waved around at her, yelling. She cocked her head, and then he all but flew at her with a kick!

A kick…that she stopped!

Guy came down to stop Lee. Then Gaara gave some remark, if that head-cock was anything to go by. It TO'ed Lee, that's for sure. Then they cleared the field for the next round.

Sakura and Naruto exchanged head-bobs. Then Naruto and Lee were staring desperately at the slot that showed names.

Whatever name turned up, it wasn't either of them: Naruto spun around and leaned against the rail, and Lee hung over the rail like he was going to throw up or something. Both dolls radiated disappointment.

Oh – it was Shikamaru and that Sound-village girl.

* * *

><p>I wasn't capable of seeing half the fighting styles that the girl used. Still, he managed to catch her in a shadow possession.<p>

They each threw a weapon at each other, both dodged, and she conked her head on the wall. He bent over backwards, and then flipped over. The round was his.

Everyone was cheering for him in the stands: his team and Sakura.

Kiba counted the people left, and then let out a little beg towards the sky. Lee, I'm guessing, was starting the "Pick me next" chant.

It was Naruto versus Kiba! Naruto started cheering, and so did Kiba. Lee started drooping and shaking his head around, with his hands either on the sides of his head or hiding his eyebrows.

_Lee, do everyone else a favor and _calm down_!_ It was funny, though.

* * *

><p>There was a bit of discussion over Akamaru, but finally the match got going. Akamaru sat out for the first hit – which sent Naruto across the field.<p>

Then Akamaru joined the fight again, and the fight went weirder. Naruto got hit by Akamaru, and then Naruto became Akamaru and hit Kiba back!

Naruto had caught Akamaru. Then Kiba did something to himself and Akamaru that made Akamaru turn red, and then suddenly there were two Kibas on the field, and they were pounding Naruto!

Then Naruto finally managed to get to his feet again, and he transformation-jutsued into Kiba! Kiba punched him, and then Naruto turned into Akamaru upon getting hit. Then Kiba hit Akamaru thinking it was really Naruto, but it was really Akamaru! I'm not entirely sure how Naruto kept Kiba from sneak-attacking him, but he ended up using the cloning jutsu to knock the guy out!

"Go, Naruto!" I cheered, pumping my fist into the air. _Who cares if he can't hear me? That was awesome!_

The next match was between…Hinata and Neji!

I immediately smelled trouble. I don't know why, maybe it was the energy around both fighters. If that was it, though, then it was especially what I was sensing from Neji: total hatred. I knew they had the same Byakugan ability; it was why I gave them identical totally-glass eyes as opposed to the sequin sparkles for everyone else's eyes (except Sasuke with his Sharingan – he's got the same sort of eyes that Neji's got, and for the same basic reason). If it was a reflective surface, I could look through it, which was why even if I looked like I was meditating while the dolls were running around, I wasn't vulnerable.

* * *

><p>But I digress. I don't know what happened. Most of it seemed to be verbal, and therefore outside my ability to discover. Naruto yelled a lot. Still, the fight was vicious, but Neji won, and he had to have <em>four<em> adults work together to stop him from _killing_ Hinata! Lee had to keep Naruto from attacking Neji outright, and then Naruto evidently said something meaningful – to himself, anyway – to Neji.

The field was cleared. I studied who was left. _Let's see…Lee, Choji, that Sound ninja, and…Gaara. Hoo boy…somebody's going to have quite the fight on their hands…_

Kankuro went over to Naruto for whatever reason.

Lee started sulking.

Then Gaara went down to the field!

And Lee started some sort of victory dance! _Oh, I guess Lee's next._ I glanced down at the field. _And since Gaara's still down there, he's evidently Lee's opponent._

Sakura looked embarrassed by Lee.

He just jumped right over the railing to join Gaara.

* * *

><p>Finally, the fight began…with Lee charging in headfirst and then having to dodge sand. Every kick he delivered was blocked by that sand.<p>

_Lee's insane!_

Then he slipped on sand, and had to jump clear, landing on the statue.

Guy waved something at Lee, Lee saluted him, and then he pulled something off.

Whatever he dropped, it caused explosions in the floor! And then he was still hitting the sand, but not where Gaara was able to see him at all!

"Oh, _this_ is great, Lee," I yelled excitedly, waving at the set, "you've gone and made Gaara _paranoid_!"

And then he actually kicked Gaara in the _face_!

And then he landed _another _hit! I couldn't keep track of him at all!

Then sand fell away from Gaara's face!

And the feeling I was sensing from him…_he's fighting like a demon._

Then it hit me. He _did_ have a demon inside him! Just like Naruto!

Weirdly enough, that revelation calmed me down concerning Gaara. I don't know why, maybe it was just that I didn't find Naruto scary and so why should this guy be scary? Emotions and logic don't always go together.

Whatever he was going to do next – Lee, that is – was going to involve his tape.

Then he started kicking Gaara into the air! One wince in pain, and then he cocooned Gaara and slammed him headfirst into the ground!

_My floor's never going to be the same again._

The figure that Lee had slammed was an empty shell! And the _real_ Gaara…

…He appeared out of the sand and started whipping Lee with it!

_My display's only barely holding up to this!_

Lee started dodging while only barely having any bend in his legs! I was worried about him, especially since he kept getting hit after that, and he was still dodging, even then!

Always dodging, always getting back up. Lee didn't know how to give up!

_Oh, Lee…just watching you right now makes me love you even more._

_Now please survive for me._

Then he started dodging even faster! What was he thinking? He was practically dancing for Gaara's sand!

Then Lee's skin suddenly turned red and his hair started standing on end! What was he _doing?_

His muscles were starting to stand out even on the doll, and then he started pounding Gaara without ever staying on the ground! Lee was playing pinball, and Gaara was the ball! I couldn't even see him _move_!

I could hear some of my stitches snapping! He was pushing himself too hard!

Gaara lifted his fists, a pitiful defense – it wasn't enough to stop Lee.

They pounded into the ground. Lee tumbled free, but Gaara was still conscious! He caught Lee's arm and leg with his sand and squeezed them in such a way that had to have broken every bone in them!

Gaara tried to kill Lee, but Guy stepped in and stopped the fight.

_Thank you, Guy._

Gaara started acting like he had a serious headache. Then he put away his sand and walked off. Then of all things, Lee stood up again! The manner in which he stood proved he wasn't conscious, but he was still standing!

_Lee! You still won't give up, even unconscious?_

Guy hugged him. Sakura almost went down to him, but then Kakashi stopped her.

Guy laid Lee back down.

Tears running down my face, I reached over, picked up Little Lee, and gave the doll a kiss on its mouth.

_Lee…I love you. You just wouldn't give up, even in the face of certain death._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Naruto<strong>_

Suddenly, Bushy-Brows lifted off the ground!

"What's going on?" Kankuro asked from next to me. "Is this some sort of jutsu?"

Kakashi-sensei answered that. "It's a jutsu, all right: it's just not Lee's. We have a bystander."

"A bystander?" Then I remembered something Miyo had said; something about real-timing what I was doing. "She can affect the real world?"

"Evidently."

We watched as Lee was set onto the stretcher.

"Should we stop the preliminaries?" I heard Anko ask.

"Don't bother," Kakashi-sensei answered. "If our bystander was going to affect the matches, they'd have done so before now. That was a one-time thing."

Kankuro studied me. "I assume you know who's watching?"

"Uh…she's my sister. Her name's Miyo, and she plays with dolls."

"I think I've seen her work," I heard him say as I jumped down to Lee.

I looked down at Bushy-Brows. Then I heard one of the medics say that he wouldn't fight again!

I couldn't believe it. Lee wanted to fight so many people, and now he couldn't fight anyone!

I just about felt sorry for him. Then we cleared the field for the final match.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

Final match started, between that last Sound ninja and Choji.

After that showdown between Lee and Gaara, this match was anticlimactic. Choji had a good strategy, but he still lost.

I looked briefly at my hand. It was still warm from when I picked up Little Lee. _He was trying so hard, he nearly set the doll on fire in my real-time!_

* * *

><p>I quickly looked back at the field. Something else was happening. Everyone was down on the field. Kakashi left for whatever reason. That's Kakashi for you – always disappearing to somewhere.<p>

Anko walked over to each winner present, holding her hands out to them as if she had something between them. And they were all reaching out and interacting with that something.

_This is frustrating._

Then they all changed their order, leaving a pretty big gap between Gaara and Kankuro.

There was a lot of talking. Naruto glanced uneasily at Gaara.

I tipped backwards. "Good grief," I yanked the cord free of the set, causing every doll to fall over. "I don't have a clue what's going on! I'd better find somebody who does know." I leaned forward again and studied the dolls all laying on either their faces or their backs. "And I can't ask any of the finalists – they'll likely have their own problems. Asking the teachers or the Hokage is out of the question as well."

My eyes fell on Little Sakura. "Yeah…I'll ask her. She'll likely be able to tell me what's happening."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: When my sister and I were watching episode 43 for this chapter, we were cracking up over Lee's fretting: he was just being SO melodramatic! ^_^**_

_**A/N 2: This is probably the first time Miyo's feeling for Lee ever is demonstrated.**___


	7. The Month Goes On

**_The Month Goes On_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

I decided to seek out Sakura tomorrow. So, I took all of the lineup dolls – Neji, Gaara, Sasuke, Kankuro, Shino, Temari, Shikamaru and that Sound guy – and put them in the shoebox that used to hold my boots. I didn't put Naruto in there, because I figured he'd be too busy training to come home tonight, and I still needed my dream-guarding ninja.

Then I took Little Lee and started fixing all those snapped stitches. _Poor little guy…you'll be good as new in no time, but who knows how long it'll take your original to recover!_

After a certain point, Little Naruto started ringing his bell.

"What?" I didn't look up.

Then I heard him push something into the sink and turn the water on.

"If you break something, you're going to get locked up."

After a few minutes, the water turned off. Then I heard a different kind of ringing.

Finally, I looked up.

Little Naruto was standing on the counter, using a spoon to tap a glass. As soon as he noticed I was looking at him, he dropped the spoon, waved at me, turned around and started whacking his back as best he could.

"You want a chakra-supplement? Um…okay, but I'm actually a little low from real-timing all those fights." I glided a string over to him and inserted it into his back. Then I actually stood up and walked over to him.

He waved a hand at me for a few minutes, the attitude plain: "Wait for it…wait for it…" Then he stepped out towards the sink, which was full of water.

And then he stepped out _onto_ the water!

"Whoa!" I read how he was doing that. _Let's see…not unlike the tree exercise, but always adjusting the exact flow of chakra to compensate for the movement of the water. I'm too low in chakra to try to do that today, but I'll try it tomorrow!_

_After I talk to Sakura, of course._

I plucked Naruto off the water. "Okay, enough; you don't want to get your feet wet!"

He play-sulked, but let me disconnect him from the string.

"So, who's teaching you that?"

He tapped my hand twice.

"Two people?"

He nodded.

"Do I know either of them?"

He cocked his head, squirmed down from my hand, and ran over to the Teacher Shelf.

Trial and error had me figuring out how he was being taught.

Ebisu had started teaching him that technique, but then Jiraiya convinced somebody to let him teach Naruto instead.

_Remind me not to try finding Naruto while he's training._

* * *

><p>Naruto came home that night, so I was able to get the details on what was happening. Apparently, he was going to fight Neji in a month, and Sasuke likewise was going to fight Gaara.<p>

And…

I stared at Naruto. "You're teasing me, right? I can move actual people around by moving my doll copies of them?"

"No, I'm not teasing! You picked up Bushy-Brows and set him down on the stretcher, believe it!"

"I'm having trouble doing so…but if it's true…then so many different tactics open to me! Battle, assists, _everything_!"

I got nightmares that night, but they weren't my usual nightmares. They all tied in with me watching Gaara fighting Lee – the originals, as opposed to the dolls.

I woke up to Little Naruto bopping my forehead with a spoon. Real Naruto had already left for his training.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake!" I got up to put Anko back on the shelf.

And I got a surprise: she hadn't fallen this time!

The next thing I did was go over to my shoebox to check on the finalists; no reason, I just felt like it. I flipped the lid off the box and stared in shock.

The Sound ninja was shredded! His original was, no doubt, very, very dead.

I reached down and pulled his remains out of the box. Sand slid down from the stuffing and fabric, causing me to stare suspiciously at Little Gaara. His gourd was missing its cork.

"Gaara, did you kill this guy?" I demanded, waving the scraps at him.

The sand glided by itself into the gourd. It was the first time he'd ever done anything while I was watching.

_Okay, stupid question._ "Which leads me to the next question," I went on, tossing the dead doll into a trash can, plucking the cork from where it had slid next to him and fitting it back into the gourd. "Did you commit murder, or did he commit suicide?"

I _was_ putting a distinction between the two. The murder part was obvious – Gaara hunted this guy down and annihilated him. The 'suicide' part was if the _Sound_ ninja had hunted _Gaara_ down and predictably had gotten more than he bargained for.

And Little Gaara…looked at me. Just…_looked_ at me!

I decided I was unnerved, closed the box again and went to find Sakura.

* * *

><p>I found her going to a flower shop – Ino's flower shop. "Hey, Sakura!"<p>

"Huh? Oh, hey, um…" She'd forgotten my name.

"Miyo. Naruto told me about what was coming up in the Chunin Exam."

"Really?" She sounded kind of distracted.

"Yeah, and I was watching the match."

Ino started bugging Sakura about going to see Sasuke. She opted to go see Sasuke herself, bringing Sasuke a rose, "the flower of love." Gag.

"What about you, Mika?"

_She'd_ forgotten my name, too. "Miyo, and I'm not interested in Sasuke."

That got both girls' attention. "Wha? But you were always sitting next to him until we graduated!"

"That was to keep you two from arguing all the time."

Sakura chose a daffodil. Then she picked another one for Lee!

I chose one flower for Lee as well. "I think I'll give him one of my dolls, too."

"That'd be cute!" Sakura smiled at me.

After a short conversation with Shikamaru, we got to the hospital to drop off our flowers. Sasuke was gone!

Lee had left his room, too! He was training even while hurt! I stared at him as he kept trying to do one-armed push-ups, and then he collapsed!

I remembered what Ino had said to Sakura in the flower shop, about how Lee would never be a ninja again thanks to his serious injuries.

We watched over him as the nurse ran off to get some orderlies and a stretcher. I wished silently that I'd brought my copy of Lee, so that I could carry him back myself.

"Why, why Ino?" Sakura asked. "Why is it that boys always push things too far?"

"Why ask me?" she answered. "I'm not a boy."

"Right. Sorry."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Lee<strong>_

I woke up briefly while still in the hospital. Someone had left me a daffodil and a rose.

"Someone was here…"

A small doll was sewn around the rose's vase, so that it was hugging the vase. The thread was simply tied in a bow.

I lifted my right arm carefully and tugged the thread loose, pulling it free and hoping that the doll didn't fall too far away.

It did not – one foot was just in my reach.

I pulled it into my hand and looked at it.

It was a little girl-doll, with dark violet hair and blue eyes. Its clothes consisted of pink boots and a blue sweatshirt with sleeves that hid the hands.

"I remember you…"

"_Um…Lee?"_

_I turned, as did my team. A girl in an oversized sweatshirt and pink boots was standing there, looking nervous. "Um…I wanted to show you – all of you – something I was working on."_

_And she held out three dolls. Each of them looked like one of us!_

_We each took our likenesses and studied them._

"_These are really good!" Tenten said almost immediately. "And you did this from memory?"_

"_Um…yeah."_

"_Interesting…" Neji remarked. "But you have way too much time on your hands."_

"_Well," I decided to show Neji up, "I think it is a marvelous likeness!" I held the doll out at arm's length, giving it a grin, a wink and a thumbs-up._

_The girl giggled. "That's almost exactly what your sensei said about his." She held her hands out for the dolls and we returned them to her._

"_I'll let you get back to your training." And she ran off._

She had not said her name, and I consider it a personal failing that I did not ask of it before she left. She had been so nervous and so shy…

I dozed off again, remembering the dream I had had on the arena after losing consciousness…the dream of being kissed by a goddess and held in her hand.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

Near competition day – as in, competition was tomorrow – I stopped in again to see Lee. I just sat in there quietly, waiting.

Waiting for what? I don't know. Just…waiting.

Sakura came in to exchange daffodils.

"How cute," I pointed, "Someone put my doll on Lee's pillow."

Sakura giggled, too. "So, you want me to move your rose?"

"Sure. I wasn't going to get another one."

She left again, and I was left alone with him.

But not for long. Gaara came in!

I froze like a rabbit.

He looked like he was in extreme pain, and then he was getting ready to kill Lee with his sand!

I didn't have any weapons that I could use to save Lee and besides, what could _I_ do against _Gaara_?

Frankly, it was a good thing Shikamaru and Naruto came in to defuse what Gaara was doing. They spent a few minutes just…talking.

And much was made certain to me about Gaara. He really did have a demon inside him, and people had tried to assassinate him ever since he was six!

_Poor guy…nobody ever tried to get to know him. He was like Naruto at that age. I don't know what Naruto would have done if I hadn't asked him to be my big brother._

The things Gaara was saying with a straight face – then again, he was generally expressionless anyway. He gave me shivers when he cracked his expressionless façade, though.

I was glad when Guy came in to send Gaara out. But then…I don't know what prompted me.

Naruto was shaking! Actually shaking! That was no surprise, considering that Gaara was about ready to kill those two!

So I have no idea what prompted me to follow Gaara.

_Okay…slow and steady…keep pace with him…make no attempt to get in front of him or hold him back…_

I reached forward with one sleeve-covered hand and caught his. "Gaara?"

He stopped and looked at me. His eyes seemed bloodshot.

"I, um…would be honored if you'd consider me a cousin. That's all I wanted to say." Then I dropped his hand and walked past him.

How I managed to _walk_ was a miracle in and of itself. I started running once I turned the corner.

_I must be __**completely out of my mind**__!_ I think I'm actually some fine line between scared of Gaara, and pitying him.

* * *

><p>I didn't sleep well that night; not because of that same awful nightmare I'd had for most of my life, but because of what the dream <em>was<em>: Gaara's eyes, just looking at me from out of shadows…and his voice, asking the same question over and over_._

"_Who are you, that you do not fear me?"_


	8. Chunin Exams, part 3 point 2

**_Chunin Exams, part 3.2_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

I woke up early. Blinking my eyes open, I ended up twitching in shock.

Little Gaara was sitting on my night stand, just…looking at me. And he was obviously putting some effort into that, since when my dolls are sitting up, their heads are drooping forward.

I laughed a little as I sat up. "Still trying to figure me out, huh, Gaara?"

His head cocked to the side.

"Well, no wonder I had such crazy dreams." I picked him up and put him back into his team's box. Rather than turn up at classes that I no longer needed, I was going to run to the arena and watch the next set of matches.

After speed-dressing and wolfing down some breakfast, I ran out. As I ran, I thought about a conversation I'd finally had with Sakura.

* * *

><p>"<em>Sakura, what's with the mark on Sasuke's neck?" I showed her my doll of Sasuke, pulling down his collar so that it could be seen better.<em>

_She sighed. "That's Orochimaru's mark. He bit Sasuke during the second part of the Exam."_

"_Oh…" My tone as I said that one syllable described that I knew who Orochimaru was._

I'd skipped the festival last night; I just didn't feel like celebrating.

* * *

><p>I got there with the crowds. Thanks to my oversized sweater and childlike appearance, I was able to weave my way into the best spot.<p>

_Of course, nobody needs to know what's inside my sleeves._

Naruto turned up late, sliding in on his face. I waved to him, feeling a little guilty for just leaving him this morning.

Gaara looked like he was on the next road to demented.

* * *

><p>Naruto's first match started. I was on the edge of my seat! Half the time, I couldn't tell what was going on, besides a lot of Shadow-Clones from Naruto. Neji seemed to be dancing!<p>

I mostly sat there chewing on my sleeve. I didn't want to draw attention to myself from any of the surrounding ninja.

_But for a sheer level of terror, **I** could be out there._

Then Neji got tricked by Naruto – the crazy guy lured Dancer Boy into a trap – only to end up getting blasted by a wide chakra-dome move!

"Neji's…scary! He's even scarier than Gaara!" _But not as scary as Orochimaru._

After Naruto made himself enough of a pain, Neji told us all the story of his family. He wrapped up with telling Naruto that his destiny was sealed as soon as he, Neji, had been chosen as his opponent.

_Naruto's not going to take that well._

Neji knocked Naruto flat and called him a failure.

_Oohh…Naruto, get up! Don't take that lying down! Show him what happens when someone down-talks you!_

Then Naruto got up again – slowly – and said almost calmly, "I've got a mark like that, too. Big deal; who cares?"

I loved imagining the look on Neji's face: a look that said "Naruto, I do believe I hate you."

I almost loved what Neji said next, though: "If you think you can prove me wrong, then go ahead and try!" "Why fight a hopeless battle trying to fight your destiny?"

"'Cause people call me a failure! I'll prove them wrong!"

Then Naruto started channeling the fox's chakra! The sheer level of energy he was using – I could sense it from where I was sitting!

The result was an explosion that threw both combatants apart and slammed them into the ground!

Amazingly, Naruto won!

And he said to the downed Neji, "For the record, I failed the Graduation Exam three times. Because they always tested the same jutsu, which always tripped me up. And that jutsu was the Shadow-Clone Jutsu. So stop whining about destiny and being unable to change it! You can do it, Neji, because unlike me, you're not a 'failure.'"

I was the first person to start cheering.

As soon as Naruto noticed that the crowds were cheering for him, he started running around waving at everybody and blowing kisses.

_I'm getting tired just _watching_ him._

Neji went off to the hospital wing, and then the crowds started getting restless, waiting for Sasuke.

* * *

><p>Some discussion happened on the field, and then the next match, Shino versus Kankuro, was to be started. Kankuro forfeited.<p>

Temari and Shikamaru were up next. _This match will be interesting._

Well…it was…once Shikamaru moved from where Naruto'd knocked him into the ring.

Shikamaru nearly had her three times, and each time Temari dodged. I was on the edge of my seat!

Finally, he caught Temari…and just gave up!

_What a weird guy; now if only Sasuke will turn up…_


	9. Total Chaos

**_Total Chaos_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

I didn't like having to wait ten minutes for Sasuke to turn up. I pulled out my doll copy of Sasuke and just looked at it. "Come on, Sasuke…if you don't hurry, you'll be disqualified!"

Then finally, Sasuke showed up in a flurry of leaves with Kakashi! To my eye, Sasuke's hair seemed…kind of thicker. Well, if he hadn't been doing anything except train for a whole month, of course his hair grew out of its original style, or added to it a little.

After he announced himself to the proctor, he turned and looked up at the wall somewhere. If I had to bet, he was making eye contact with Gaara. _Men and their macho-defiant staring contests…_

"So he made it after all!"

I looked up in surprise. _Lee! He's okay!_

Then Naruto and Shikamaru cleared the field, Gaara got down there and the match started.

Gaara...seemed extremely unstable mentally for a few seconds, talking to himself. Finally, he calmed down enough to start fighting, but he wasn't stable.

The first thing Gaara did was make a sand clone, and then the fight was on for real! Sasuke destroyed the clone, and then moved quickly around Gaara's sand to actually punch him! It was like watching Lee!

Sasuke was the one landing all the blows, complete with dodging _under_ the sand to get to Gaara!

Gaara may have been against the ropes, but…this _was_ Gaara we were talking about.

Then Gaara hid himself inside a sand sphere that could repel Sasuke's blows, complete with dangerous spikes coming out of it to point at him!

Then Naruto came running over with Shikamaru, asking Kakashi to stop the match!

As it turned out, he didn't have to stop the match: Sasuke pulled out a technique that Guy called Chidori and actually penetrated Gaara's defense!

I rubbed my cheek. It was tingling, and the tingle had only gotten stronger as the tournament went on. If I could just figure out why…

…_Oh, no: this is the spot where…this isn't good._

Then the most inhuman scream came from the sand ball, and Sasuke had to power himself back out – with some _thing_ gripping his arm!

The sand ball fell apart about a minute later, and there was Gaara…clutching a bleeding shoulder.

* * *

><p>Around there, I started to feel drowsy. Almost automatically, seeing everyone else falling asleep, I set my hands together and repelled the genjutsu.<p>

Then things got bad. _Really_ bad. Smoek came from where the Third Hokage had been sitting! There was lots of battle sounds coming from up there, and then the Hokage was made prisoner behind a barrier!

Sound ninja came to block our way to keep us from trying to help Hokage! I'd half-stood, until they came.

I don't know what was happening down on the field. In the end, all of Team Gaara left, and the proctor started fighting with their teacher. Sasuke ran off after Gaara.

I didn't move again until suddenly Kakashi identified the guy with Hokage as being Orochimaru!

_**That's**__ why my face has been tingling! I could tell that he was nearby!_

Top ninja fought Sound ninja while I stayed huddled. Kakashi told Sakura to take Naruto and Shikamaru out after Sasuke.

I carefully sat up. "What do I do, sir?"

He studied me. "Iruka told me…that he graduated you."

It wasn't a question. "Um…yeah?"

"You…" Then he went silent. Somehow, I got the impression that he was stumped. "Four is the usual number for a team of ninja."

"Yes, sir."

Kakashi summoned a little dog to help Sakura track Sasuke.

"So…what am I doing?" I asked again as the four left. It was funny seeing Sakura drag Naruto and that little dog Pakkun drag Shikamaru!

I rounded the corner and nearly ran into Shino. He covered my mouth and took me with him in a teleportation jutsu!

We appeared in the forest. "Sorry for the abrupt change in location," Shino told me, "but I couldn't risk you alerting any Sound ninja to my position. We're going to track Sasuke."

_Uh…and how are we going to find him?_

I ran with him, tying my new headband around my neck, still under my sweatshirt.

* * *

><p>Finally, we caught up with Sasuke and Kankuro.<p>

"I've got dibs on him first, Sasuke," he declared.

Basically, Shino explained how he'd been able to track Sasuke, and told the killer squirrel to go on ahead so that the bug boy could fight Kankuro.

"Stay back, Miyo," Shino waved me back a tree. "If it looks like I actually need help, you can come out."

I nodded and sat back to watch.

Kankuro unfurled his ugly puppet, and Shino allowed his bugs to swarm on his arms and hands. The battle got going quickly after that.

Blades chased after Shino from the puppet, and he dodged.

I lost track of half the tricks they used, though I loved Shino's near-miss! The one that worried me was the poison smoke bomb of Kankuro's. Shino breathed in a little, while I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve.

Shino kept using bug clones to avoid trouble, and then infested the puppet. The puppet had a flying head, though.

And Shino won! He'd sent his bugs to catch Kankuro – his near-miss had planted a girl bug on Kankuro's headband!

But then Shino collapsed, gasping for breath.

I leaped out. "Shino! Are you – I mean, how can I help?"

"Go…after…Sasuke!"

I hesitated. Then I shook my head. "No man left behind. I've got to help you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Need to think up exactly what she does for Shino.**


	10. Memory

_**Memory**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

I carried Shino all the way back to the village and left him with his dad – using my newfound trick of channeling chakra through a doll, because Shino's too heavy for me to physically carry – and then went right back out.

Little Sasuke was guiding me back, because I didn't have a Pakkun like Naruto and the others did.

I heard carnage somewhere ahead of me, and was worried of coming too close.

Little Sasuke suddenly stopped on his own and waved at me to stay back. He edged closer to the trunk of my tree and stopped. Then he looked back at me, waved one little hand over his eye, leaped to a different tree and looked around the trunk.

_Little Sasuke's been showing a lot more free will lately while connected to my chakra._ Still, it was a good idea. I closed my eyes and looked through his.

I almost lost focus after that. Gaara had mutated into some…_thing!_ Some hideous, asymmetrical, drooling creature! And he was fighting Sasuke!

_Hoo boy…I don't think this is entirely skewed by Little Sasuke's size!_

_...I took up the wrong profession._

Now, mind you readers, I wasn't scared of Gaara's inner demon, exactly. I was scared of his clear, utter lack of control…and the state of his mind. He was easily on the verge of insanity, if not already there!

Then Gaara mutated even _further_! One of his moves in trying to hit Sasuke put him practically right in front of Little Sasuke! The real Sasuke was getting pounded!

_What to do, what to do…I can't use my Gaara doll to stop him, not when he's like _this!

…_But saving Sasuke…that's well within my range of abilities._

I took hold of my string, preparing to yank. _I gotta time this just right…_

Sasuke pulled out another Chidori…almost…

I didn't see what happened. But Gaara's sand-arm fell to, well, sand. Of course, then he made another one on his other arm and Sasuke collapsed!

I watched the curse mark spread on the doll and Gaara lunge for Sasuke…

I yanked the cord around the same time that Naruto got here to kick Gaara. Sasuke went flying towards me.

I hadn't prepared for anything after that. Twitching the cord a couple of times made sure he didn't hit any trees, but then he crashed headlong into me.

Sakura kept me and Sasuke from falling all the way to the ground. "Miyo! What are you doing here?"

"Long…story…"

Gaara lunged for us again, but Sakura defended us. He shoved her out of the way and pinned her to a tree with a gigantic left claw, but then just…_stopped!_

"**You…**"

I twitched, but didn't move from my crouched position.

"**I…remember…you…**"

I straightened slowly, lifting the doll of Sasuke and tweaking it so that his arm was slung over my shoulders.

"**You…have no fear of me. Who are you?**"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke right off of me and leaped him off to a different branch. "Sis, I suggest you get out of here…"

Ignoring him, I answered, "Miyo."

Then Gaara reached forward with his (now normal) right hand and grabbed the front of my sweatshirt! "**Why don't you fear me?**"

My only explanation for my next reaction was that I'd just gone _past_ fear: I started laughing giddily, my knees going just weak enough to where I had to support myself on his arm.

"That's it," I heard Naruto say behind me; "she's lost it."

Finally, I calmed down enough to answer, slipping my arms out of my sleeves. "Because…I know I won't die at your hand."

Then I hopped backward, off the branch and tucking my knees up in the process.

I fell straight out of my sweatshirt. And while my knees were up, I unclasped my boots.

Then I caught a branch as I fell, spinning around it with my momentum and kicking my boots off.

I heard them hit a tree, and it sounded like they never fell. Of course, I also heard my sweatshirt fall past me. _Gaara must have dropped my sweatshirt in surprise. I should remember that particular move - it might just become my favorite version of the Substitution Jutsu!_

I vaulted out of the way and into hiding, letting Naruto take on Gaara.

I could tell exactly when Naruto's fighting spirit turned on.

Naruto pulled some Shadow-Clones, and made a bomb go off right under Gaara! And then he went charging in headfirst _again!_ Multi-Shadow-Clone Jutsu, and kicking and punching Gaara all over the place!

Gaara fell right past me to impact the ground! But then Gaara super-sized into his inner monster! And then Naruto summoned a giant toad!

Of course, then Naruto had to argue with the giant toad before they could really start fighting. That just seemed...typical.

Shockwaves made me hide my face for a minute. I ended up soaked thanks to the fight. When I looked up again, the gigantic whatever was fighting a giant nine-tailed fox!

_Naruto? What did you just __**do**__?_

Then the fox was a toad again, and I don't know what happened!

The sand beast fell to pieces, the giant toad left, and then Gaara and Naruto struck out one final blow against each other. A physical one with fists; were both combatants really out of chakra? I'd believe it.

Naruto won! Who else, in a battle of fists born of total equalizing exhaustion, would land the last punch first?

I ran to find the two where they'd fallen. Neither could move, and I wasn't entirely sure Naruto was even conscious.

Oh wait – he was. He inched like a worm over to Gaara – entertaining to watch, really. It looked to me like Naruto understood perfectly what Gaara had gone through, because it was his story, too. The difference was Naruto had found people who believed in him.

"It's almost…unbearable, isn't it?" Naruto asked. "Feeling all alone. I've been in that dark place."

Every other word he said went _through_ me, nearly bringing me to tears.

Sasuke showed up, telling Naruto that Sakura was free. And then Gaara's team showed up.

"That's enough," Gaara near-whispered. "It's over."

_Hm. Wasn't expecting him to say that, though he did look like he was thinking about what Naruto had said._

Kankuro heaved Gaara up and the three of them left. I ran off again to get my things. My boots were so stuck I nearly did myself in pulling them free, and my sweatshirt had broken a couple of branches on the way down.

* * *

><p>The next day, we all headed to the Hokage funeral. The Third Hokage had died during the battle. All of us had to wear black. My only black outfit didn't include the sweatshirt, so it was the closest to form-fitting I ever wore minus my sweatshirt.<p>

I didn't appreciate getting soaked by the rain, but…still…

I pulled my Third Hokage doll from my pocket and left it at the memorial instead of a flower. He'd always liked my dolls, and admired my work on them, including the one I'd made that looked like him. I didn't leave the hat - I'd give the little cardboard hat to whoever became the next Hokage.

Finally, the rain stopped, and the teams separated again. I stayed at the memorial a little longer.

Remembering.


	11. Dragalong Tagalong

_**Dragalong Tagalong**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Miyo<strong>_

"What do you _mean_, you're leaving? It feels like you just got back!"

"Sis, Pervy Sage wants to teach me some totally awesome jutsu that can even outdo the Chidori!"

I slumped and flopped down on the bed. _Drat you, Jiraiya. All I want is to spend one calm day with Big Brother, and you have to drag him off to God-knows-where!_

Naruto finally calmed down enough to notice my mood. "Hey, Miyo, I'm sorry about all this – I've been missing our time just hanging out together, too. But your coming with us just isn't a good idea, even if you _are_ a full ninja now."

_Double-drat you, Jiraiya!_

The disturbance earlier hadn't helped my mood any. I don't know what had happened, I wasn't there, but I sensed it.

Naruto ran off again like he had a train to catch, dragging a bag as big as my toy box. Sheesh.

* * *

><p>Sakura came by later to drop off some sweets for Naruto. I almost didn't have the heart to tell her that the punk had left.<p>

Then Sasuke came charging over, asking – demanding, really – where Naruto was.

"Sasuke," I finally protested, running after him as he ran off again, "what's going on?"

He slowed and stopped. Then he looked at me, and I swear he could see my headband peeking out of my sweatshirt.

"I think…your adopted brother is in trouble. No, I don't _think_, I _know._ _My_ brother is after him!"

"_Your_ brother? I didn't even know you _had_ one!"

"I'll explain on the way. I…much as I hate to say it, I'll need backup. I don't think Itachi is alone."

"Itachi? That's your brother's name, right?"

Instead of answering, he dragged me to Naruto's hangout and asked the shopkeeper where Naruto had gone. As soon as we had a location, he dragged me off again.

* * *

><p>Getting to the village was, as far as Sasuke seemed to be concerned, the easy part. When we got there, it was hard to tell where anything is.<p>

"Looks like I'll have to ask around on foot," Sasuke finally said.

"Don't bother," I pulled my Naruto doll out of my sleeve with a chakra string set to it. "I can track him."

I could feel Sasuke's intense stare at me as I set the doll on the ground. _Okay, Little Naruto,_ I thought at the doll, _time to find your lookalike. Quickly, now: my friend's in a hurry._

Little Naruto stood there for a moment, turning his head this way and that. Then he took off running.

As I let the thread play out, I turned to my temporary teammate. "I'll follow close enough to keep the thread slack, but I won't say how you follow."

He took off, his eyes fixed on the doll. I started running as well, just fast enough to keep my thread with slack.

* * *

><p>We found the hotel, got permission to visit Naruto, and I tracked up to the right room.<p>

We got there in time to save Naruto.

"It's been a long time, Sasuke," one of the two creepy guys said. One of them looked back, but I doubted that he was the one who knew Sasuke's name.

"Itachi Uchiha," Sasuke snarled, "I hope you're ready to die!"

I carefully tapped his shoulder. "Um…I'll take on the bigger guy…but…is there anything I need to know about…um…"

He glanced at me, his Sharingan blazing. "Don't look at his eyes."

Then Itachi turned around. I carefully looked anywhere but at his eyes, choosing to carefully study him. If I survived this, I wanted to make a doll that looked like him, and one that looked like his partner.

Then Sasuke started powering up his Chidori – right next to me! "Whoa!" I ran away from Sasuke, trying to give him room in the narrow corridor.

…I ran _towards_ Itachi. Am I crazy?

I didn't make it _to_ Itachi – I tripped. Sasuke ran right over me. I decided I was safer as a floor rug.

Of course, since my hood fell over my face, I don't know what happened. Did…Itachi actually _deflect_ the Chidori?

I have no idea what happened next. I just kept laying there. Actually, I doubt I could have gotten up even if I tried – Sasuke was still standing on my sleeve.

Then he was lying on my sleeve as something Itachi did managed to bring him down.

I don't know what Naruto was doing.

And then suddenly, if that voice was anything to go by, Jiraiya turned up! And I became glad I couldn't get up, or look up.

The world came to a grinding halt at Jiraiya's appearance. Staying on the floor seemed like a better idea all the time.

Now if only Sasuke would agree with me…

He stepped on my hand and slipped on my sleeve a little getting to his feet again; effectively saying that he'd be the one to kill Itachi. His gaining his feet meant one foot was on my hand and the other was on my hair. _I'll kill him later._

Sasuke got kicked right over me and into the back wall, giving me the chance to get up without crashing into him. Not that getting up did me any favors, since I was standing _in front_ of a dangerous ninja that was all but facing me.

One yell at Naruto to stay out of this fight, and then Sasuke started running again towards us, left arm flapping uselessly. "Miyo, _move!_"

_He'd have been better off pretending I was part of the wall. Now Itachi "knows" I'm someone Sasuke cares about, and he's likely to try something concerning me._

I tried to move out of the way in time. As it happens, I almost made it. It wasn't Sasuke who hit me – it was Itachi, on the trailing edge of a swing that sent Sasuke back into the same wall as last time.

I wobbled badly, towards the hole in the wall – now how did _that_ get there? Chidori, no doubt – trying to blink away my stun.

"Sis!" Naruto yelled in panic.

Right when falling out that hole, the equivalent of a two-story window, was imminent – a hand grabbed my sweatshirt collar!

_Déjà vu. Gaara did this to me._ I blinked my eyes open again and looked up at Itachi's face about two seconds before I remembered that doing so wasn't the smartest thing I could have done. And he was giving me this look of intense scrutiny.

At least he was keeping me from falling out the hole. He pulled me so that my boots were both firmly planted again, and didn't let go of my sweatshirt until he evidently saw that I had my balance back. "Miyo…I can recognize an accident. But next time, stay out of my way." Then he went over to Sasuke and proceeded to pound him. It didn't matter what Sasuke tried, he _still_ got pounded.

I couldn't bear to watch. Instead, I worked on two dolls inside my sleeves. One of Itachi, and one of that other guy. The look Itachi had given me left me with the feeling that he was going to be paying me a visit sometime in the near future.

I have no idea what happened next. One instant, Itachi was holding Sasuke by the neck against the wall and whispering to him, and the next instant, Sasuke screamed.

"Isn't that heartwarming?" the other guy said, "Using Tsukuyomi on his own brother!"

_Tsuko-what?_

Naruto ran for the two of them, past me. That other guy ran after Naruto, past me. Jiraiya started making hand signs. I wonder why I hadn't moved from where Itachi had dragged me; he didn't paralyze me or anything.

Then the scenery changed. The matter…I couldn't describe it, but I had two choices, and I chose the first one: close my eyes. It was either that or lose my lunch.

* * *

><p>I don't know what happened after that, I was trying to tune Jiraiya out. But I know that Itachi and his pal ran off.<p>

After an explosion, I ran over to Sasuke, who was still stuck to the wall – or was it _in_ the wall? Anyway, he looked unconscious.

I caught him as he was pushed out of the wall, and Jiraiya put away whatever he'd done to the hallway.

Then Guy came jumping in to kick Jiraiya. Where'd _he_ come from?

I rolled my eyes. Jiraiya was determined to pick an argument over the kick, and Guy was trying to laugh it off.

Finally, some sense was spoken. Sasuke was to be taken back to the hospital.

"Um…Sir Guy?"

"Yes, Miyo?" he flashed another of his grins at me.

"Could you take _me_ back, too? I only got all the way out here because of Sasuke."

"Of course I can!" Then he got serious again. "Hey…you didn't get hurt, did you?"

"Um…beyond Sasuke stepping on me a few times and getting clipped in the face by Itachi, I'm okay. I'd have been hurt worse if I'd actually tried to do something." I looked down. "You probably think I'm the worst ninja ever."

He caught my chin and made me look at his face. "I think you're a smart ninja; you looked at a situation and saw that without training you wouldn't stand a chance, so you tried to stay out of it. Still, how'd you manage to get hit by _both_ Uchihas?"

I blinked at him. "Sasuke pulled out Chidori while I was right next to him, and in trying to give him room for that move I ran practically right between him and his brother and tripped. And when I stood up I was standing too close to Itachi. I did try to dodge."

He laughed. "Well, there are worse things to happen on the field of battle."

* * *

><p>Guy gave Naruto an outfit that was just like Lee's, saying it would make him stronger, and then he and I left, with Sasuke on Guy's back.<p>

I looked up at him. "Did you have to? I mean, it's not really his style…"

He just laughed and patted my head. "Don't worry about it!"

_I think I'd rather worry until I find out that Naruto dumped that ridiculous thing in the trash._

…

"Can I get one of those?"


	12. A New Technique

**_A Brand-New Technique_**

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

Don't worry, readers, even though he gave me the outfit, I wasn't going to wear it the way it was. I planned on embroidering it first, giving it some designs to separate it from Guy's or Lee's.

* * *

><p>Little Naruto tried to show me something that Jiraiya was trying to teach him. I wasn't sure it was something I could do, but…<p>

_Spinning water inside a water balloon with chakra until it pops? I could do __**that**__._

I practiced that for a while. It had been kind of funny when my real-time on Jiraiya lifted a full water balloon – bending reality and lifting it with both hands – spun the water inside it with chakra and made it explode…all over him.

Working on the water balloon technique – which I mastered within an hour – I almost felt guilty. Naruto wouldn't get that for who knows how long, and I got it almost immediately. The reason for this, I think, is because I could watch the manner of chakra flow through my dolls and determine how they're doing something.

That's how I learned Chidori: by watching what Kakashi-sensei was doing while he was instructing Sasuke. It was pure dumb luck that had me real-timing that outside.

And yet…each of those techniques…Chidori, whatever the name is of what Jiraiya was teaching Naruto…while they were powerful, they just didn't feel like…_me._

_I need a technique of my own._

I pulled my sweatshirt off and just stood there for a minute, looking at my right armband. Ten small segments, each with a button attached to it…at least, it looked like it was attached. It wasn't, at least, not on the top side. The segments were pockets, and a full small spool's worth of thread was wound and hidden inside the pocket: one end was indeed attached to the button, but the other end was tied to the inside of the pocket.

And both armbands were like that. All total, I could control twenty dolls; so much for an ultimate technique.

Unless…unless the point _wasn't_ to control dolls with the ultimate technique, but to use the threads _themselves_…

_Hmm…spinning my chakra…and circling it around my arms…having the threads extending outward and twirling the armbands…maybe I've got something here._

I tried small first, focusing on my left arm and only extending all my threads a little – about a foot. (Yes, that's small, considering I think I've got about twelve feet to each thread. The point is that it wasn't full extension.)

Slowly, the armband started to be pulled around by the threads.

I looked at my right arm and tried the same thing over there. Again, it moved slowly.

I felt like I'd made some kind of breakthrough!

Now I just had to figure out how to get full extension without hitting the buttons on the ground.

* * *

><p>The next day, I found a nice open spot, ditched my sweatshirt, and extended my arms, letting the threads each extend as far as they could. With the lower ones, that was only about three and a half feet; with the rest, it was full extension. I studied each arm carefully, and adjusted the length of some of the threads to make a careful rotation system. Then I tried it out again, this time trying to focus on shortening any threads heading downwards by enough to clear the ground and lengthening any threads heading upwards.<p>

Doing that was extremely hard, and I was glad that I finally opted to only work on my left arm at first. Clearly, I needed to practice until that became automatic.

* * *

><p>After a while of practicing – which included Naruto finally mastering popping the water balloon and being shown how to pop a rubber ball, and my practicing that move with my knowledge of what it entailed until I succeeded…with a small rubber ball – I finally managed to get the ins and outs of the twirling mastered on both arms.<p>

Now I just had to speed it up.

Almost as soon as I started trying that, I found a problem: spinning it faster rubbed my arms raw. I had to try to bind my arms with tape.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped a mile. I must've been _really_ focused on what I was doing, to not notice Neji come up! "Uh, nothing?"

He ignored that and walked over to me instead. "You haven't had much practice tending to your own injuries, have you?"

"No…"

He took the tape from me and started winding it around my arms for me. "Practicing new techniques really require a teacher present, in case you hurt yourself."

I studied him. I'd gotten an idea for my ultimate technique…

"Um…Neji?"

"Hm?"

"Uh…how do you manage that spin in your three-sixty defense jutsu? I…know that jutsu is only a Hyuuga clan move, but I kind of want to learn how to spin like that, it might come in handy."

He stared at me for a minute, giving me the uncomfortable feeling that he was sizing me up now that I wasn't wearing my sweatshirt – I'm not used to being seen without it by _anyone_, let alone a boy. Then he smiled a little. "Well, you won't be able to do very well with those boots on."

I took them off and hopped to one side.

After another few seconds, he conceded, "I might be able to teach you something…"

* * *

><p>I practiced with him for three different days, getting the hang of spinning extremely fast without losing my balance, tripping over my own feet, or getting overly dizzy. I even figured out how to channel chakra into just one foot, using the same basic spinning technique for the water balloon to spin, not the ground, but <em>me<em> – without touching my other foot to the ground!

Neji's entire reaction to that was, "You look like a dancer when you do that."

_Probably because of how I bent my other leg up for an easier spin. _I gasped – that had taken a great deal out of me, "I don't think I'll try _that_ very often. It's too much effort."

* * *

><p>So around the time Naruto mastered the popping of the rubber ball, I had tape binding my entire upper arms, and several ideas on how to improve my new technique. My idea was: spinning on the ground, holding my arms out and twirling my thread armbands with the threads at as close to full extension as possible.<p>

Unfortunately, I knew that was an energy-buildup maneuver, and I didn't know how to safely – for me – release that energy.

I wound up drawing a small mark on my left palm to help me remember to concentrate my energy through that point when using the move Naruto was being taught. (Before you readers ask me, 'hey wait a minute: how could your dolls show you that was what Jiraiya did to Naruto,' I _wasn't_ shown that part; I'd thought at the time that I was making it up. Anyway, mine looked different from his: mine was a small heart.)

I never really got around to perfecting the move Jiraiya was teaching Naruto. I was spending most of my time trying to figure out a safe release for the energy I could wind up building in my new technique. Besides, my dolls couldn't real-time what was apparently Step Three. I don't know what Step Three was.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Readers, please offer any suggestions for how Miyo could release the energy she builds up with this technique in relative personal safety - I have absolutely no ideas! It can incorporate anything from Chidori or Rasengan, or even both.**


	13. A New Team is Born!

**_A New Team is Born!_**

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

I didn't know what I was supposed to expect when Iruka-sensei called me in. But whatever it was, it wasn't that he was already meeting with a few strangers. "Oh, sorry, I'll come back later," I stammered, getting ready to pull back out.

"No, it's okay, come on in!" Iruka-sensei beckoned me in. As I slipped in, I took notice of the strangers: a tall man with brown hair, wearing the vest commonly worn by the higher level ninja and unremarkable beyond being taller than Iruka; and two boys, probably about my age and identical in everything except clothing. One was dressed fairly conservatively, all in black – he looked like he was in mourning or something. The other was the exact opposite, dressed in a kimono so bright, I thought it ought to belong on a girl. Both had the same guy-long silvery hair and all three sported leaf headbands across their foreheads.

I sort of remembered those twins. They were pretty big flirts, and took special notice of Ino, not that she was particularly interested in them. I couldn't quite remember their names…they'd left for a while on some family trip or something practically right after they graduated. I doubted they remembered _me_.

"Miyo, this is Hideyoshi, and you probably remember the Osamus: Katsuro and Keitaro."

_Now_ I remembered them better. They had been determined to drive Iruka-sensei up the wall by always dressing alike and pretending that they'd accomplished a Shadow-Clone Jutsu. Evidently they'd finally been convinced that dressing differently was a good thing.

"Hideyoshi, Katsuro, Keitaro, this is Miyo Diatra. You have been assigned together as a team."

"_**What**__?_" the twins both yelled at the same time. "**We can't have a girl on our team – she'll only slow us down!**"

_Aand…they're sexist._

Hideyoshi-sensei silenced them both by setting his hands on their heads. "Boys, your teamwork that I've seen has been so tight that it'll be difficult for anyone to keep up with you. But three is the official number, and who knows – you might find that we need her for some missions. Just give her a chance, okay? And in the meantime, call me Yoshi-sensei; it's shorter."

They both subsided and muttered something that sounded sulky-apologetic. They both glared at me, though.

_Just what I need: a team that hates me._

* * *

><p>The next day, we went out to start our first test: the Challenge of the Bells. Yoshi-sensei dangled two bells from his fingers. "The point of this challenge is to try to get both bells from me. But there are three of you, and two of them. That means…"<p>

One of the twins spoke. "One of us is getting tied to the stump."

"You've got that right, Keitaro!"

It made sense he confused them right then: they had dressed alike this time, probably to try to confuse him. It worked. That had been Katsuro. I'd figured out how to tell them apart a long time ago.

"Challenge…Start!"

The twins vaulted off. I settled down on the grass, got comfortable, and closed my eyes.

* * *

><p><em>My thread chose a toy in my sleeve: my stuffed snake. It slid out of my sleeve, and I became my stuffed snake. The rest of the challenge, I spent controlling this snake, so I'll just phrase things as if I really was the snake.<em>

I slid around, periodically looking up. The fight – as such – was going rather…tricky for them. Katsuro was avoiding traps, and Keitaro was falling right into them. I knew exactly what I had to do.

Yoshi-sensei landed practically right next to me, and when I looked up, I saw that the bells were dangling _right there_!

I didn't take the time to think – I just struck upward.

My jaws closed around one of the bells, and I snapped my head back, breaking the cord free. Then I dropped into the grass again and stayed motionless as the fight moved on.

As if through a fog, I heard Keitaro complaining about having stumbled into another trap. I slid over to him. He'd fallen into a hole.

Lowering down carefully, I tapped his face. When he looked at me, I opened my mouth, showing him the bell. He stared for a minute, and then carefully reached in and plucked the bell out. He was probably being so careful because of my fangs.

I pulled back out and vaguely heard something about the time limit being up.

_My mind returned to my body._

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes and stood up as the boys returned to the stumps. Katsuro was dangling a bell from his fingers, and Keitaro was actually jingling his, laughing like an idiot.<p>

Yoshi-sensei looked at me.

I shrugged. "I guess I'm going to be tied to the stump." I walked over to one and set my back against it, standing calm as Sensei tied me there.

**Keitaro**

I high-fived Katsuro.

"There wasn't any doubt that we could do this on our own, was there?" he declared to me, grinning big.

I smiled right back, but then something slid over my foot. Looking down, I saw that it was a stuffed snake, colored so that it was difficult to spot. And it was moving.

_I remember that snake…it gave me the bell._

"Come on, boys, I'm going to treat you to lunch." Yoshi-sensei started off, and Katsuro followed. I stood a bit longer and watched the snake.

It circled over to Miyo, straightened up and…slid into her sleeve, what could be seen of it!

My brain came to a full halt. _Miyo was controlling that toy snake? And she had it _give_ me the bell?_

I tried ignoring it and turning away, but I heard something right as I moved.

She was crying.

* * *

><p>As we all sat there, Katsuro ate as if he hadn't seen food in a week. I just pushed my rice around in my bowl and stared at the bell in my hand.<p>

Katsuro noticed after a minute. "Hey, bro, what's up? You've been quiet for an hour now."

"Hm? Oh…it's nothing. I'm just…not hungry right now, that's all." _I also don't feel like celebrating. I feel like some lowdown snake._

After lunch – which I didn't really enjoy – we left. I don't know where Sensei or Katsuro went. I went back to the stumps.

Miyo was still there, and she'd stopped crying. Her head was hanging, and her eyes were closed.

"Hey."

She didn't react at first.

I reached over and knocked on her head. "Hello, I'm talking to you."

That got a reaction. She jerked up and actually snapped at my hand! "Oh, just go away, will you? Go and celebrate, and leave me alone! You don't care about me, anyway!"

I'd been wrong when I'd assumed she wasn't crying anymore. Her voice was filled with the emotion that was still sliding down her face.

"Miyo…" I tried again. "Miyo, I saw that snake of yours. You _had_ that bell. And you just _gave_ it to me. It should have been _me_ tied to that stump, not _you_. Why'd you give it up?"

She stared at me a little longer, but I'm not sure she could see me very well, not with that many tears in her eyes. "Because if either one of you wound up tied to the stump, you'd have hated me for life for getting the better of you. That's not good for a team. The only way to make sure you stayed feeling smugly superior and letting me do whatever I could to help in the background was if you both got the bells and I was the one tied to the stump." Then her head drooped again.

I stared back at her. _She'd thought all that through? And that's what she thinks of us?_ That _really_ had me feeling like some kind of worm, as well as ashamed of my brother. I walked closer and caught her chin, tilting her head back up. Then I hugged her as best I could while she was still tied to the stump. "I'm sorry, Miyo. You're our teammate, and neither of us has been all that nice to you. You _can_ hold your own."

**Miyo**

I doubt I could have moved even if I wasn't tied to the stump. The only boy who'd ever hugged me before was Naruto, and my Copy Doll Jutsu doesn't count!

Finally, I got something out that wasn't sobbing. "I…I'm sure we'll get along just fine as teammates."

He let go of me. "Just teammates?"

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "We're totally not meant for each other, Keitaro, but cut me free from this thing and I'll offer my hand in friendship!"

"Oh, right!" He pulled a kunai from his pouch and got ready to cut the ropes. Then he stopped. "How'd you know I was Keitaro?"

I shrugged as best I could under the ropes. "I've always been able to tell you two apart. I just couldn't figure out which of you was which until I saw you yesterday in that crazy kimono. You realize Naruto would have died laughing if he saw you in that?"

He started laughing and actually cut the ropes. "Yeah…my mom hinted that when we got a new teammate, they'd appreciate it if they could tell us apart on the first day, and that was the most outrageous thing I could think of to wear that Katsuro didn't have in his wardrobe."

I started laughing, too. "Couldn't you have just worn your headbands in different places?"

"What fun would _that_ have been?"


	14. Something New Every Day!

**_Something New Every Day!_**

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

It took a couple of days, and lots of pleading from Keitaro, but Katsuro finally decided to give me a chance. I think I really did win him over once I embroidered both their uniforms with tiger stripes and leopard spots combined.

_Identical_ tiger stripes and leopard spots combined. Keitaro's idea for confusing enemies in the field, and I figured it was a good one or I wouldn't have done it.

Then I heard the news: we had a new Hokage!

_I wonder…does this mean that Naruto's home?_ I pulled out Little Naruto. "Well, little guy? Is Naruto back?"

He cocked his head. Then he nodded excitedly.

"Awesome!" I jumped up, jumped out of my tree and nearly fell on Katsuro. "Naruto's back! Now I can introduce you to him!"

"Your stepbrother? Well…I guess I can spare some time." He looked over his shoulder at another tree. "What do you think, Keita?"

"Sure thing!" Keitaro jumped out and we all went looking.

"Just remember the entrance you two have been practicing, what have you two been calling it…the Double Ninja Windmill?"

I glanced to either side and saw identical grins spread onto their faces.

* * *

><p>We finally found him just leaving his ramen shop hangout. "Stay back for now," I whispered. Then I ran out and pounced on him in a hug. "Big brother!"<p>

"Whoa! Hey, sis! How's it going?"

"Better than you'd believe! I graduated, and now I'm part of a team!"

He shoved me back. "Really? I didn't think there were all that many jounin left to teach new shinobi."

"There aren't. This one had left the village with the Osamu twins – remember them?"

He got a sulky expression on his face. "Yeah, I remember them. I never did figure out how to tell them apart."

I twitched my ponytail – a hairstyle I slapped together with my headband just so that I could signal the twins.

The two of them spiraled in, too quickly for me to track exactly how they were hanging onto each other, beyond that every time one of them was standing, the other was upside-down. Then all at once, they separated, and with neat flips landed on either side of me, saluting Naruto.

He stared.

"Yeah," I laughed, "I helped them design their uniforms. They wanted to be impossible to tell apart on the battlefield. Of course, I can always tell them apart no matter what they do to themselves."

I could sense a slight bit of tension from Katsuro when I said that. _Oh, I'm going to pay for this next time we train, I just know it!_

"So…" Naruto shook his head. "Grandma Tsunade, she's healed Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, and soon she's going to check out Bushy-Brow to see if she can help him, too!"

It was my turn to stare. "Lee?" Then I bolted to the infirmary, leaving the three boys.

**Naruto**

"She's got it bad," one of the two said, staring after her.

"Does she really think we haven't guessed?" the other asked.

"Huh?"

**Miyo**

I never did find Lee. I…confess I didn't look very hard. I didn't know what to say to him.

Besides, what good would it do me to find him? He was in love with Sakura, nothing _I_ could say would make anything better.

* * *

><p><strong>Tsunade<strong>

"You know, it's so strange."

"What is, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked.

"When I analyzed Rock Lee's spinal injuries, I found some slight healing was already done…from an outside source."

"You mean like a healing jutsu?"

"Yes. I'm not sure how it was done, though, and it wasn't directed very well, however it was done." I closed my book and stared into space. "Someone made an attempt to patch him up."

I visualized the kid and his room. Was there any hint as to who had done this?

_There was nothing off about his room…but…something had nearly fallen out of his pouch as he got up. It had been…_

"A doll."

"Huh?"

I didn't answer. I stood up and left instead, thinking about one of the other teams I'd read about. _Yoshi's team, composed of twin boys and a girl. They had to have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for that one, because the ability lineups didn't match up very well. The twins had very similar skills, of course, but all that the girl seemed capable of doing was playing with dolls. And yet…what could be done through a doll jutsu?_

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

I wandered into the training area, set my Rock Lee doll up so that he could watch me, and started working again on my taijutsu. I don't know where the Osamus were, probably off practicing doing stuff while cartwheeling around in that Double Ninja Windmill.

I'd been practicing for about five minutes when suddenly…

"So this is where you ran off to."

I jumped a mile! "Oh, sorry, I didn't notice you coming!"

She looked young, and she was pretty. "I should be the one apologizing. I didn't mean to startle you; I thought you'd heard me. Your profile said you were the nervous type."

"You've read my profile?" _ I _have_ a profile?_

She smiled. "Yes." The tone she used left me wondering which question she was answering. "My name's Tsunade."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Um…you wouldn't be… 'Grandma Tsunade,' would you?"

The smile slid a tiny bit. "Naruto's told you about me?"

I shrugged and sat down. "Not much; not beyond that you were going to try to heal Lee."

She glanced up at where I'd stashed the Lee doll. Then she walked over, plucked him from his perch and studied his stitches. "You do fine work."

"I made that last year. Just because I make a doll that looks like someone doesn't mean I try to do anything to a person through it."

Tsunade looked down at me. "And you've…had to mend him?"

"Yeah…I can use my dolls to watch events in real time, so I knew exactly when he'd gotten hurt. I didn't want to leave him…the doll, I mean…so I tried to fix him." I stared at my sleeves. "He's just stuffed, but I…"

She sat down next to me. "Do you suppose some of your chakra entered the doll as you were trying to fix it?"

I stared at her. "Um…where are you going with this?"

Tsunade gently squeezed the doll. "Since this little guy's stuffed, there's not a ton that you could have done to help the real Rock Lee's spine, but I think you helped him recover a lot of his muscular structure, and repaired most of the tendons."

I felt like my eyes were going to fall out of my head. "I'm learning something new about my doll jutsu every day! First I found out I could pick someone up using that jutsu, and now I find out I can heal certain injuries?"

"Remember to blink, Miyo."

I blinked rapidly as she patted my head, dropped Little Lee on my sleeve, and got up to leave. "You've got quite the talent. Keep working on it." She took two steps and stopped. "Oh, and Miyo?"

"Huh?"

She studied me for a minute. Then she smirked. "I saw that doll you gave Lee. You ought to tell him how you feel in person eventually."

I scrambled to my feet, my face flaming. "But – but – but he loves Sakura!"

"You're sure about that? He still has the doll."

It was like my brain had come to a full halt. "What?"

"He carries it with him like a good-luck charm." Then she walked off.

I stared after her. _He…he __**carries it with him**__?_


	15. Rescue Mission, part 1

**_Rescue Mission, part 1_**

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

A few missions – both mine and Naruto's – went by without much fanfare. Then, one morning, I got up to banging on the door.

Naruto answered it – it was Shikamaru, trying to round up ninja to…

HUH?! Sasuke left?

It wound up being me, Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, and Kiba, all chasing after Sasuke. I was glad that I got to see Lee before I left.

We set up a single file arrangement: Kiba and Akamaru, Shikamaru, Naruto, Choji, and Neji. "Miyo," Shikamaru told me, "Your jutsu is mainly an assist. You go after Choji, and stay alert for if any of us needs help. Keep those dolls on the ready."

We all had our points on where we should be surveying the territory. I was supposed to alternate looking left, right, and – just in case – up.

And after a surprisingly dramatic speech from Shikamaru, we had to show our weaponry to Shikamaru, so that he knew what we had. I'd grabbed every low-ranked ninja doll I'd had, plus Shikamaru, because I hadn't known who was coming; plus, I had my stuffed cat and my stuffed hedgehog – the only toys that could fit in my sleeves by that point. I didn't bother actually dumping my sleeves out; I just held them up and said, "Neji, it'd be faster if you just used your Byakugan on my sleeves."

"Obviously, Miyo," Neji added, once he'd complied and seen my crammed supplies, "you're not bringing all of those."

I glanced back at Lee, who was just watching us and looking impressed. "I wasn't going to; since I didn't know who was coming, I just basically grabbed everybody. I was going to see if anyone was nearby when we left, and ask them to take any dolls I didn't bring back to Naruto's house." I used my threads to sort free my dolls for Choji, Neji, Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke, Gaara, and Lee, and two threads each caught my cat and hedgehog. I also left a few blank dolls and supplies in the bottoms of my sleeves, so that I could make copies of the escort. The rest of them I shook out and shoved into a bag. "Lee, could you see to it that these get back to my house?"

"It would be my honor!"

Sakura ended up taking the bag, after making Naruto promise to bring Sasuke back. And finally, we set off.

_Lee…will I ever see you again?_

* * *

><p>I'll admit, I was still a little embarrassed by the conversation that happened before we left:<p>

"_Most of your choices for dolls I can understand," Neji said slowly as he turned off his Byakugan, "but…why Lee?"_

_I almost didn't manage to answer. Finally, I got out, my cheeks getting hot, "To balance my sleeves?"_

_That __**was**__ true, but it was only part of the answer. The other part was that doll was my good-luck charm, and besides…_

"_I see," he answered with a smirk that hinted that he really __**did**__ see._

_I turned away, muttering, "We ought to get a restraining order on those eyes of yours!"_

_He just laughed._

My embarrassment was interrupted by an alert about the scent of blood. I ignored most of what was being said, because only a couple of sentences belonged to our leader Shikamaru.

_This is several versions of bad._

All at once, we had to stop, for the enemy had left a surprise for us that Akamaru fortunately detected first. I nearly collided with Choji when we stopped on the branch – there wasn't quite enough room for all six of us. We had to go around the trap.

Or…

"I have an idea, but it's risky."

"Yeah?" Naruto, of course.

"I think…if I was the only one to go around it, and then used my own jutsu to pull the rest of you across, it'll probably go off _after_ you clear it."

"Your jutsu is just full of surprises, isn't it?" Neji smirked.

"Well, Shikamaru? Do you want to take the chance?"

He studied me. "It depends on how fast you are getting around the trap."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "I'm faster than I look like I ought to be in these things."

He sighed. "How sure are you of your own ability to pull this off?"

I thought about that. "Ninety-one percent, I guess."

"Do it."

I pulled out my Neji doll. "Neji, what hand sign do you use for your Byakugan?"

Surprised, he showed me.

"Thanks. Now, once I'm in position, you'll have to turn your backs to me, for a slightly easier ride." _Let Naruto explain what I meant._ I copied his moves, closing my eyes and focusing my chakra through my doll. Then I looked through Little Neji's eyes and started leaping.

_This is trickier than it looks to them._ I nearly fell twice. Finally, I made it around the trap and pulled out the rest of my team's dolls. Lining them up on the branch, I connected them to my strings and leaped back a pace. Then, I aimed…they were in position…and _yanked._

Only two of them managed not to yelp: Shikamaru and Neji. They flew backwards, with me gaining enough backwards momentum myself to catch the dolls:

Shikamaru and Kiba, setting them down carefully on a branch and shutting off the chakra flow…

Naruto and Choji, setting them down on a different branch and cutting off _their_ chakra flow…

I didn't have time to catch Neji's doll; Neji himself collided with me, and I had to grab him and channel chakra through my feet to keep from falling out of the tree. I didn't even bother putting him down, I just reeled all my dolls back in, threw him over my shoulder and hissed, "_Move!_"

We managed to get out of range of the bombs before they went off. Then we stopped for a breather. I just about collapsed under Neji's weight, gasping for breath.

"Oh, get up," he got off me, "you're fine."

"Oh, sure, I'm _fine,_" I retorted, still trying to recover, "just nerve-shot and pushed beyond my usual weight limit! You're heavier than me!"

"Break time's over," Shikamaru took charge again, "Let's get moving!"

* * *

><p>The next thing we had to avoid were tripwires. I considered taking off my boots, but then saw how easy it was to spot the wires, and the space between them.<p>

Naruto nearly got caught by a narrower-paced tripwire, but Shikamaru shadow-possess-saved him. That pose was entertaining how he was hanging onto Choji's scarf so as not to lose his own balance!

Finally, since we'd stopped to properly analyze the trap, Neji saw ahead with the Byakugan to try to spot our quarry. I decided to try the same thing with my Neji doll.

I didn't see anything except trees, but then again, I hadn't been training this ability. Neji spotted them.

Shikamaru got us working on a plan. "Miyo, your part of the plan is probably the easiest: stay hidden and watch our backs. Using your hedgehog toy is too risky in this circumstance, because there are more of us than of them."

"Okay."

When we slipped up on the four – the most bizarre group of people I'd ever seen – there was no sign of Sasuke. Neji saw he was in the coffin. Shikamaru looked at me. "Is he dead? Can your jutsu tell that?"

I pulled out the doll and connected it. _Come on, real-time this for me…_

He fell over.

While Shikamaru stilled, I studied the energy flow. "Don't flip out, he's not dead…not exactly."

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

"He's in a half-dead state. And something weird is happening to his chakra, but I can't place what."

"Great."

"Your jutsu can cut through those seals when my Byakugan has trouble?" Neji sounded impressed.

"Mine ties in with Sasuke's energy. Yours just sees."

Then suddenly a knife with bombs was thrown past us! We had to move or be caught!

I tumbled practically right into their midst, my Sasuke doll flying further away from me! It was still connected to my string, but it was in plain sight!

One ninja had six arms, another had two heads, and the third was even bigger than Choji! Only the girl looked normal, but I was sure there was something off about her.

I almost immediately turned on my nervous-little-girl act while I reeled the Sasuke doll in faster than I ever have before and set the openings of my sleeves together to work on the dolls. "D-don't hurt us, please!" Let Shikamaru or Neji handle this; I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull a perfect copy of all of them, but I could at least come close.

Neji gave me a look that was either disgust or "You're a pretty good actress," possibly both combined. I _was_ being pretty pathetic, I guess.

Then again, Shikamaru was doing about the same thing. I just knew he was going to Shadow-Possess on them…eventually.

Six-Arms could work threads like me, and he used them to drag the remaining three out into the open. Kiba tossed a smoke bomb, and then we wound up talking for a bit.

And, sure enough…Shikamaru rocked it! Though it did leave me wondering what would happen next.

Fortunately for my creative sensibilities, I had enough of the right supplies to properly finish the four dolls before the talking was over.

Then _they_ got free of the trap, and _we_ ended up trapped inside a stone prison!

I huddled down inside my sweatshirt and trembled. I'm not overly fond of closed dark spaces; it's probably my second biggest fear, next to Orochimaru. …Actually, Orochimaru was probably the guy who got me even as scared as I am of closed dark spaces.

Kiba's attempt to break through the wall had me pulling my hood up over my face, and it also didn't work!

"It appears to be more than just a dirt wall."

"Neji," I looked up slightly, "you are the master of understatement."

Then Neji found out that the wall was stealing our chakra!

About the only way I could describe what happened next was that something inside me snapped. I started pulling off my boots. "Guys, I'm going to have to ask you to get down."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at me, along with pretty much everyone else.

I stood up and pulled off my sweatshirt. "I'm about to use a jutsu I've been practicing, and I have no idea what's going to happen."

"If you've been practicing it," Choji asked, "then how can you not know what's going to happen?"

"Simple: I still haven't figured out the last step."

That did it – everyone got down on the ground, though they were all still looking at me.

"Are you crazy?" Naruto yelled as he hit the dirt.

"I can't believe we're entrusting our lives to an untried jutsu," Shikamaru added.

I extended my arms and bent one leg. _Deep breath, Miyo…deeeep breath…_

My threads extended into their designated lengths and started rotating. Then I started spinning.

I was vaguely aware of Neji suddenly adding, "I helped her with that spin! At least now I get to see what she wanted to do with it."

Faster I spun…faster my armbands twirled…faster and faster with more and more power being built up until at long last one thing stuck into my head:

_Let…us…__**OUT!**_

My threads snapped around so that they were all – while still rotating – pointing along my arms towards the wall. They spun like drills, and penetrated the wall, getting longer as I went.

Oh – and did I mention _I was still spinning?_

I was starting to sink with the force of my spinning, so I angled my arms up and down as I went, chopping up the wall in several places at once.

Suddenly, in one point, I heard a kind of yelp – and it didn't belong to my teammates!

I grinned in a kind of manic excitement, shot my arms straight up, and had my threads just outright break the whole dome apart!

We could see again – it was the big fat guy standing there looking like an idiot and gripping his arm – hey! I actually hit him!

I slowed, reeled in my threads, stopped, and wobbled…

Shikamaru caught me. "Steady there! If you fall over with your foot in that hole, you'll twist your ankle."

"Why's the forest spinning?" I asked plaintively.

He laughed and lifted me out carefully as Naruto gathered my sweatshirt and boots, wrapping them into a bundle. "You did great. You can have a rest, for now, anyway."

Naruto and Kiba tried to take the guy on, epic-failing. Neji pulled a rope out of one of my sweatshirt's sleeves and tied my weight-clothes into a tight bundle. "You probably shouldn't wear these again until you've fully recovered. Once Naruto and Kiba come to their senses, we'll have Naruto carry your things while I carry you; I still owe you for carrying me earlier."

Choji kept the guy from trapping us in another prison, and we fell back to talk strategy. The five guys were sitting in a circle, while I was lying on my back near them, trying to get my head straight again and make the forest stop spinning.

When the guy found us by dropping the trees, Neji had to save me.

"Miyo," Shikamaru asked, "how's your head? Is it straight again after all that spinning?"

"Um…" I tapped my head carefully. "About seventy-five percent, I guess."

We had a little trouble getting sorted out, but in the end, Choji stayed to fight this guy, and we went after Sasuke without him, leaving a mark to show which way we went.

(I really did wind up getting carried.)

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is one way she can use that ultimate jutsu. I'm sure there are others, but I don't know what they are yet.**


	16. Rescue Mission, part 2

**_Rescue Mission, part 2_**

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

I guess it's a good thing my boots are a couple sizes too big and I wear regular sandals inside them, or my ditching my boots to spin like that would have rubbed my left foot raw. Anyway, I was finally able to be up and jumping on my own, relieving Neji of my weight. Stopping to put my weighted stuff on again was out of the question, though: Sasuke and the remaining escort were getting farther away by the second.

_I wish I could check on Choji; but my dolls are in my sweatshirt's sleeves, tied to Naruto's back._

Kiba stated that we were getting close…but Neji suspected something was up. We hadn't run into any traps in a while.

"Naruto, give me my stuff."

"Huh? Okay, sis." He untied the ropes and deliberately dropped the bundle. I leaped ahead a tad faster and caught it, swinging it onto my own back. _I'll get the stuff on the next time we have something resembling a breather._

I was amazed at how both Naruto and Neji were getting angry over being underestimated! Though everyone saw the part where we could take the creeps by surprise.

"Miyo, is there any chance that big guy is going to catch up to us?"

"Um…" I slipped my thread into my sleeves, trying to find the doll in question. I wound up pulling out both – they're shaped almost identically, so sue me – so I checked both.

_Good news, bad news time…_

I grinned at Shikamaru's back. "If you're planning on pretending to be that guy to throw them off, you've got free rein: Choji won!"

Naruto let out a half-cheer as I re-sleeved Little Choji and dropped his opponent, and Shikamaru smiled. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Neji was smiling too.

* * *

><p>We caught up, but that six-armed guy started catching us all one by one – or in Naruto's case, one by thousand – in spiderweb nets! Neji was really tied up good!<p>

_I guess it's up to me, now. No time to find my copy of him…_

"There had been a girl among you," the creep said. "Did Jirobo actually succeed in picking her off, or is she hiding around here somewhere?"

I launched myself out of hiding, extending my threads. _No hesitation…gotta do this without flinching…_

I spun in midair, twirling my threads and myself, hoping I'd make contact. I almost did, too.

He dodged, and caught me in webbing, too! "So, there really was a girl under that blue monstrosity!"

I rolled my eyes. "Your boss does creepy better than you, honestly."

He was planning on killing Naruto! That was almost painfully clear by where he was dangling! He even made it a game: which one's the real one?

"Naruto!" _Drat this guy: he caught my threads! If I could get momentum with them, I'd probably be able to cut this webbing, but not when they're _already_ stuck!_

Soon, all the Shadow Clones were gone! I was straining to get loose, pulling with all my might and praying for a miracle.

The miracle happened: every Naruto on the web was a Shadow-Clone! Naruto was still free, and fighting-ready!

Then another miracle happened: Neji flying out of nowhere to save Naruto and cut all of us free!

I sat down and took the time to pull my boots and sweatshirt back on, while Neji explained where Spider-Freak went wrong.

"Go on, you guys: I'll handle him."

"We did agree to going one-on-one." Shikamaru said that.

"But what about Choji? He hasn't come back yet!" Kiba.

Shikamaru looked at me. "Well, Miyo?"

I looked at him. The Choji doll had gone back into my sleeve, but he'd evidently seen me holding it. "He's alive, but in no condition to follow us."

"Great."

With Shikamaru, I have a hard time telling if he means something or being sarcastic.

Neji said a lot right then, including surprising me by telling Naruto that sometimes his eyes were even better than Neji's own!

I touched Neji briefly on the shoulder. "Good luck."

He set his hand on mine. "You too."

Then we set off, leaving Neji to his battle.

We wound up with some problems right as we were leaving, but Neji kept anything from hitting us.

I linked up with both dolls and – no, I didn't real-time; I just used the least amount of chakra possible to keep track of both of their stamina and injury rates.

It took a while before either of them was actually _hurt_; but when that happened, it was _Neji!_ And then Neji kept taking hits! How was Spider-Freak _doing_ that?!

Finally, though, a couple of hits happened almost simultaneously. _At least if Neji had to land only two hits on a person,_ I pulled out the six-armed doll and dropped it to the ground, _the second hit was the killing blow._

I pulled the Neji doll out of my sleeve and studied the damage. Several tears in the fabric of his back, a small tear across his face, and two holes that went right _through_ him!

_This won't do…_

I fished out my sewing needle and, while still moving, channeled chakra into the doll and started mending him. _Live, Neji. You must live. Sewing on the run is tricky for me, but I can at least stop up the worst._

I would have given Choji this treatment, but my healing jutsu has limited abilities with internal injuries…I think.

* * *

><p>By sundown, we – according to Akamaru – were getting close. I was still kind of uneasy, but…well.<p>

As we ran in the dark, Shikamaru explained the plan. Finally, Naruto looked back at me, remembering. "Hey, sis, how are you doing? I know you're not used to night running…"

"I'm okay…I guess."

* * *

><p>Morning came, and I was getting bleary-eyed. "Don't these guys ever stop for a break?" I protested, yawning.<p>

"I know you're tired," Shikamaru answered, "but you've got to keep moving."

Naruto spoke up. "Hey, how about I carry her, while she takes a quick nap? If she's supposed to be an assist, then she needs to be wide awake!"

We ran in silence for a minute longer. Then Shikamaru sighed. "You've got a point, Naruto. Just don't lag behind, and make sure you wake her up when I say it's time for the strike."

Naruto paused and helped me get onto his back. Then he set off again, while I surrendered to sleep.

* * *

><p>It didn't feel like long before we caught up. I was left on a hidden branch, and I was trying to see straight with Little Neji's eyes. <em>Don't fall asleep, Miyo: your team needs you here.<em>

My bleary mind wasn't following the strategy very well, but we got Sasuke and started pulling out. "Miyo," Shikamaru called, "can't you slow them down?"

"Uh…"

He let that answer his question. "Great, I _knew_ we should have thought of giving you that nap last night!"

"Don't blame yourself, Shikamaru; I was too wound up last night anyway!"

Akamaru set bombs, and we caught one of the ones following us, but then Kiba had to save his dog from the guy! The three fell off a cliff!

The girl caught up, and Shikamaru opted to stay and fight. Then another one grabbed Sasuke – someone we didn't know was around!

"Kimimaro," the girl called him. He did a lot of ignoring us and talking to her. He implied that his body couldn't move on its own anymore, and that he was using some sort of cheat to get around that angle. Then Naruto stood up to yell at the guy.

I hid my face in my sleeve. _Naruto…_

Naruto leaped for the guy, but the girl throttled him back!

Only quick reflex had me catching him, through my doll and chakra.

Then Kimimaro grabbed the coffin and ran off again!

"Naruto, Miyo, listen to me," Shikamaru spoke up. "I've got a plan. But you've gotta follow it exactly!"

We were told the plan, and we opted to go into it!

Then, while Shikamaru distracted her, Naruto and I leaped after Kimimaro! _Good luck, Shikamaru!_

I noticed when Naruto started channeling the fox's energy, and I picked up to match his pace.

* * *

><p>Finally, we caught up with him, partly because he'd stopped. I fell and hid in the grass, a patch of sky in a field of green, while Naruto got his attention.<p>

Kimimaro's words chilled me to the core: Orochimaru was planning on using Sasuke's body to continue his life!

Naruto pulled a Shadow-clone Jutsu, and all that Kimimaro could say about it was, "How amusing!" It left me wondering what he was actually planning on doing to get out of this.

Naruto was channeling a lot of energy through the clones, but they were still getting hammered!

I…confess that I set Little Gaara - my best moves-on-his-own defensive doll - on guard duty so that I could take a quick nap. I wouldn't be any use to Naruto if I was mentally exhausted. Besides, he could keep making clones to keep the guy busy long enough for me to recover. But there was nothing that could have prepared me for what happened next…


	17. Rescue Mission, part 3

_**Rescue Mission, part 3**_

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

What woke me up was pain in my right forearm. Not pain like I was lying on it weird, pain like someone had taken a kunai knife to it. I squirmed around and grabbed hold of whatever had done that.

It was one of my dolls – Little Gaara! He'd crawled inside my sleeve and started using his sand on my arm like a blade!

As I turned my attention to my arm, though, I felt that none of the marks were very deep; they were really just cuts. And the way they were bleeding…the cuts were spelling a word…no, two.

_Rock Lee._

_**Rock Lee?!**_

**That** woke me up, and I lifted my head in surprise. And what a sight met my still-slightly-bleary eyes:

There was only one Naruto, the coffin was destroyed, Kimimaro was still standing there, and Sasuke was gone!

And Rock Lee…he was here – fully recovered!

All I could do was stare and remember what I'd said to Naruto:

"_Hey, Naruto? I'm still kind of sleepy, so…I'll take a quick nap – setting a guarding jutsu on myself, of course – while you fight this guy. If he starts moving, just chase him. I can track you. And…if there's a game-changer…follow Sasuke. I'll figure it out from there. You don't have to worry about me."_

"_Okay, sis, I can handle Sasuke on my own!"_

Lee told Naruto to go chasing Sasuke while he handled things here with Kimimaro.

"Okay, but just be careful! This guy uses his own bones for weapons! Watch out for yourself: this guy's strength is beyond belief!"

Lee gave Naruto a thumbs-up and told him to go on.

"Hey, sis," Naruto called outward, "I'm going after Sasuke. You can either follow me or play assist to Bushy-Brows here when you wake up!" Then he set off after Sasuke.

I slowly sat up, not wanting to draw too much attention to myself.

As opposed to Lee, who – after saving Naruto again – told Kimimaro, "I dislike being ignored!"

And then the fight began anew, so that I could watch.

* * *

><p>Lee was back in fine form! But suddenly he was on the ground and Kimimaro's bone blade was coming down towards him…<p>

"One moment please!" Lee suddenly demanded, holding his hand up.

I don't know which stunned me more: that Lee was actually asking, or that his request actually worked.

I truly can't understand Lee, even though I love him. He'd called a halt to his own death to take medicine. I hid my face in my sleeve while fishing for my Lee doll with my threads.

Lee downed the whole bottle he had with him around the time I found the doll and connected my chakra to it, so I noticed something odd happening to his energy. And I could see him staggering back and forth and giggling like he was…drunk?

_I…don't think that was medicine._

That was confirmed when he insulted the guy and then started staggering towards him! Finally, Lee got into something resembling his battle-ready pose.

_Should I try to control his movements with Little Lee? …Nah. It probably wouldn't help, and I'm not familiar enough with his fighting style._

Instead, I checked up on Shikamaru and Kiba.

Kiba was wounded, but it wasn't quite bad enough to warrant healing. So, I studied the damage Little Gaara had done to my arm. It wasn't all that bad; sure the words were bleeding, but they were really more like glorified scrapes. I bandaged them anyway; no sense in that arm having a weakness when and if I have to block an attack.

Yeah…I was kind of half-ignoring Lee. I had my chakra connected to his doll to monitor his vital signs and energy, but I wasn't really watching the fight. I glanced up briefly when he fell over, supposedly asleep, but I could read his energy and…he wasn't asleep.

_Lee…you're embarrassing when you're drunk._

"Can't you see I'm trying to take a nap?!"

I glanced up again. Lee was swaggering around, still drunk, and nothing Kimimaro was doing was making any contact.

Then Lee disarmed him!

And…Kimimaro activated a curse mark and grew some more bones from his arm!

_Lee…be careful. I don't know how I can help._

Worse: Lee was becoming sober! Normally, I'd be grateful, but only drunk did Lee stand a chance against this guy!

I didn't stand up. There wasn't anything I could do to help him! I could only make a doll so fast, and there wasn't time to make a copy of Kimimaro!

Then – and I hated myself for doing this – I closed my eyes.

So Kimimaro's next words caught me by surprise: "Who are you?"

My eyes snapped open again.

_Gaara! Here?_

Now I stood up, and I ran over to the two. Kimimaro's face showed that he wasn't all that surprised to see me.

Kimimaro flung bone darts from his fingertips, and Gaara's sand blocked them. Then Gaara shocked me.

"Impulsive, aren't you?" he said to our enemy.

I stared at him, trying not to start laughing. _When did Gaara get a sense of humor?_

Gaara explained why he was here. He didn't say so in so specific words, but I knew it was because he felt he owed Naruto one monster of a debt for that pounding during the siege of the Leaf Village.

Lee wanted to help, but Gaara kept him from rushing Kimimaro…by making him fall face-first into another pile of sand. I was trying not to laugh. Again.

At least Lee saw the point of letting Gaara fight on his own now.

"Miyo."

"Uh…huh?" That had been Gaara.

"Step back."

That was all he said, but I read more into it that he didn't say: _I don't know what you're capable of, but if you knew any skills that would be useful in hands-on combat, you'd have done so before now. Clear the arena._ So, I leaped back a yard or two and settled again to watch.

* * *

><p>Things started moving fast! Gaara swinging sand, Kimimaro dodging – Kimimaro throwing small bone darts and Gaara blocking them!<p>

Finally, Gaara trapped Kimimaro! If it was any other ninja we were facing, I'd say "Game over."

But this wasn't just any ninja: it was a servant of Orochimaru, who contaminated his followers with his own unnatural abilities. It didn't surprise me that Gaara compared Kimimaro to Sasuke.

Sure enough, Kimimaro busted out of the sand coffin! Alive, but totally hideous! I almost hid my face in my sleeve!

Gaara called him a monster and a freak, and Lee called him a nuisance. All he said was that it would be the last time he was caught in Gaara's sand.

I watched and waited.

Gaara pulled out a sand tsunami! I'd never seen that much sand before in my life!

My mouth dropped open. _A desert in the forest!_

The ground started shaking with Gaara's final move! But then Gaara asked in frustration, "Why won't he give up?"

_He's kidding, right? Kimimaro's still alive?_

A tentacle burst from the sands! And then – no, that wasn't a tentacle! Gaara kept trying to kill him, but then he came out, and I saw that what I'd thought was a tentacle was Kimimaro's new _tail!_

I linked up both my dolls, glad I'd brought Little Gaara as well as Little Lee. Then I walked both dolls to a point ahead of me and made them just stand there. _When the time comes, I'll have to rescue them. I need to be ready._

It occurred to me that I'd had time to make a Kimimaro doll, but I honestly didn't think this fight would last much longer. There was something off about this guy…something besides the obvious, that is. It made me feel like…like I was watching the sands falling through an hourglass. And the sands were almost up.

* * *

><p>Gaara was trying to stop this charging thing, but then he was actually hit! He landed practically right in front of me – and was losing the sand armor from his face! Then he had to defend Lee from a swing from Kimimaro's tail!<p>

Then Kimimaro pulled free a bony something that looked like his spine, and almost trapped Gaara in it!

Gaara formed his ultimate defense in front of him! I was worried – more worried than before! I was nearly paralyzed with terror!

Kimimaro's drill never made it through the shield, though – it actually broke!

Some talk passed. I shivered every time Kimimaro named Orochimaru. Then Gaara said probably one of the few things that could have gotten me to relax: "Orochimaru's brainwashed you well, you sad little pawn."

Gaara broke free and dragged Kimimaro underground with his sand!

"You did it!" Lee yelled excitedly. "This time I am certain of it!"

Of course he added that extra sentence; he'd said those three words at least twice before, and Gaara had said that he wasn't done. Still…something didn't feel right. I took hold of my two threads and waited, poised and ready on my feet.

Gaara didn't look ready to commit, either.

Sure enough, bones started shooting out of the ground towards Lee!

I hauled my Lee thread upwards – and flew upwards myself!

I fell onto my back before I realized what happened. Gaara had caught Lee on a sand platform after I'd hauled him up, and then lifted me up with him on another sand platform. I looked at him. He was clearly exhausted, and he said that the only reason he was able to do this was because moving his sand was second nature to him.

I glanced at my sleeves, and my threads glided my two dolls up to my hands. "It's the same for me and these threads I've got," I commented, disconnecting the dolls. (My Gaara doll is a little tricky to connect or disconnect, because the gourd is right on top of the buttonhole.)

"So that is how your jutsu works," Lee commented.

"Yeah…I can heal, too. Restoring strength seems to be outside my abilities, though."

Suddenly, Kimimaro appeared with another drill! I stood up suddenly and got between him and Gaara! (Nobody ask me what came over me right then. I think it was that I seemed to be the only one still at full strength.)

The drill was shoved forward – I leaned backwards – not fast enough – it hit my sweatshirt – pierced –

And stopped!

Neither of us sharing a sand platform dared even breathe, but Lee said it. "He is dead!"

I lost my balance and fell on top of Gaara. He shoved me off as carefully as he could and brought us down to the forest.

Only after we landed did I realize that…the drill…had cut closer than I thought. _How much closer?_

* * *

><p>I wandered a little further into the trees and left the men discussing the meaning of luck to a ninja, while I tried to take note of the damage. I was only half-listening. Though it was funny that Gaara called Guy a "meddlesome mother hen."<p>

"To feel so strongly for someone you would fight for them," Gaara said so softly I could barely hear him as I pulled off my sweatshirt. "And die for them…you and Naruto Uzumaki have that in common."

**Gaara**

"Miyo is another like you."

"Ah…Miyo? So that is her name? I…had not asked her before." He said it like he felt guilty over it.

"She stood in front of me. And before…I had tried to kill you…and she said she thought of me as family."

"Well, since she calls Naruto her brother…I think…that it almost makes sense."

Then we heard Miyo's voice from the trees. "Oh…_dear._"

"Miyo?" Lee straightened up. "Are you all right?"

"Ah!" That one sound, to my ears, had a conflicted tone to it. "Lee, do you still have that doll I gave you?"

"What? Um…yes?"

"Let me try that again. Do you have it _with you?_"

_No…she isn't all right. But for some reason she is hesitant to show us._ It was my turn to straighten up. "Miyo, are you concerned about something?"

She laughed. It didn't sound healthy. "Oh, my mental problem is nothing more serious than offended modesty."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Miyo, you are in the middle of nowhere as far as the Leaf Village is concerned, and we are your teammates. I think that if you are hurt, you can trust us." He finished hunting through his belt pouch and added, pulling out a miniature version of her, "Besides, I am not going to throw this. You have to come and get it."

She was quiet for a minute. Then she came around the tree, bare from the waist up and dragging her sweatshirt.

Miyo was slenderer than I'd expected, though I'd felt that difference when she'd fallen on me. She had a passable female figure, though not as great as Temari's. But what riveted my attention was the bleeding hole right between and just under her breasts.

That caught Lee's attention as well. "So you _did_ get hurt!"

She approached us. Her face was pink, as well as with an expression of discomfort warring with pain. "Evidently."

**Miyo**

I was feeling even more self-conscious than before. I've always felt vulnerable just without my sweatshirt, and now my shirt had blood on it and in order to see my injury I'd had to take it off, and my bra was ruined. I was just glad that my sweatshirt had skewed the drill's aim, or it would have hit two inches higher.

My plan was to grab the doll from Lee's hand and run back behind the tree. Gaara put paid to that plan, though; he reached up, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me to sit near them. "Stay here."

I studied his face. There wasn't any lust in his face, not that I'd expected to see any – just a mild concern. I tried to read that one.

As it turned out, Lee helped me read it. "We are…both out of strength, Miyo. I would feel grateful if you stayed."

I sighed, nodded, and glided a thread to the back of my copy, trying to pretend that I wasn't sitting practically right between two boys and wearing nothing from the waist up except my leaf headband around my neck, my thread armbands and bandages on my upper arms and right forearm.

Once the thread was connected, I pulled the sweater off the doll – it didn't have a shirt, just a sweatshirt – and channeled chakra into it. A tear formed…well, it was really more like a hole. _Good. I wasn't sure that would work. …Looks like I'll have to use my threadweaving technique to mend this hole._ Then I glanced up. "I guess you're both curious as to how my healing works."

Lee nodded. Gaara didn't change expression, but glancing at Little Gaara gave me the answer: he was nodding, too.

I sighed again. "I can't believe I'm saying this to a couple of guys, but…watch what happens to my injury." Then I tied a thread and started stitching.

The first stab of my needle – I _felt_ it! I winced, but kept going. _Up, across, down, across the other way…always weaving the threads over and under each other…keep it tight, or it won't do its job…_

**Lee**

I watched in fascination as lines of white crisscrossed in circles around the hole, making it smaller and smaller!

"Interesting," was all that Gaara said.

I glanced up once at Miyo's face. It had gone from pink to white. This was hurting her almost more than the injury itself!

* * *

><p>It took about five minutes before the hole finally sealed off. She pulled the thread through the doll's side, pulled it tight – that was interesting to watch on her skin, as the flesh compressed inwards – and used her knife to cut the thread. Then she pulled the doll back into shape, which made her side return to normal, focused on the doll a moment longer, and then closed her eyes with a sigh. "Done."<p>

I extended a hand towards the white patch that was now on her chest, but stopped once I realized what I was doing.

She noticed, though. With a wry smirk, she pointed at me with the re-cloaked doll. "_You_ can study the healing job I did to Neji." Then she turned to Gaara. "You, on the other hand…if you're curious, then just this once…"

**Gaara**

I looked at the white patch. It didn't look any different from the rest of her skin, besides being lighter. So carefully, I touched the patch, along with her side so I could compare.

There was a difference, but I wasn't sure what the difference was. Maybe the patch was stronger.

Then I sat back again. "I see."

She pulled her shirt on, even though it had a bloodstained hole. Then she swayed, her eyelids falling shut.

I reached around, caught her sweatshirt, and pulled it so that her head hit it instead of the ground. Then I picked up the doll. The thread had disconnected from it and pulled back into her armband. "She gave this to you," I said, holding it out to Lee.

"I am…not sure I should take it back."

"It's just a doll, Lee," Miyo spoke up, her voice weak. That surprised me a little: I thought she was unconscious. "I can always make another one. Especially now that I know I should make an injury-healing doll for myself."

"But what about you? Making such a thing takes time, especially something with that much detail!"

One eye opened and glared at him. "Do you even know _why_ I gave you that doll?"

He looked taken aback. "Uh…no…"

"Then keep it. I won't try to get it back from you until you figure out why I gave it to you in the first place."

There was something off with that logic, but I couldn't see it.

He took the doll back, anyway. "You…are all right, right Miyo?"

She carefully pushed herself upright. "Yeah…inflicting that much pain on myself…I held on as long as I could, but once I finished and did everything I felt I had to, I needed to black out for a minute." Then she stood up, pulling into her sweatshirt. "Come on, you two. It's time to head back to the Leaf Village."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I still need to figure out my own timeline with this. Bear with me.**


	18. A Failed Mission

**_A Failed Mission_**

* * *

><p><strong>Neji<strong>

I slowly opened my eyes.

That couldn't have been right: I should have been dead! I'd lost a lot of blood in that fight, and with those large puncture wounds straight through me...

Just as slowly, I sat up, pushing my hair out of my face. I _was_ a little dizzy from blood loss, but nothing I couldn't handle. Looking around gave me no answers: I hadn't moved from where I'd fallen, and my opponent still lay near me, still dead.

Then I looked down.

My shirt may still have had holes in it, but the blood on the edges was dried – had _been_ dry for at least an hour. Lifting my shirt, I studied the lowest hole on my body…or rather…where it used to be. It was sealed over with new white skin, and I laid a bet with myself that it was the same for on the opposite side, as well as every other injury I'd had.

Despite that bet, I was still a little confused. _I may be a genius, but I don't heal _that_ fast!_

About the only thing I could think of to solve this little enigma was to use my Byakugan. So, I made the signs and looked again.

By my Byakugan's reckoning, my injuries…or at least, the injury I could see, and there was no reason to think the others were any different…hadn't quite healed. Oh, it wasn't bleeding anymore, but it was because of solidified chakra forming a very tightly-woven patch over the hole.

A patch…Miyo! She'd healed me using her doll jutsu! I had no doubts that as time went on, the chakra patch would form itself into proper new skin, and possibly even be stronger than before.

Standing up carefully, I smiled to myself. "I see her again," I retrieved my headband, "and I'm going to give her a hug." Then I looked off. "I wonder how the mission is going…"

**Miyo**

As I headed back to the village, I tapped into the energy of the two dolls: Naruto and Sasuke. And got the shock of my life: Sasuke had tapped his curse mark, and Naruto had gone demon-fox in his chakra, with a serious injury to his chest that was already healing!

But then I sensed Sasuke doing even better, and pounding Naruto!

And then Naruto was pounding Sasuke!

I decided to give him a little help. I put a tiny bit more chakra into Little Sasuke and then grabbed hold of him, pinning his arms to his sides.

**Sasuke**

I barely stood up when suddenly I couldn't move my arms away from my sides! Turning to look, I couldn't see anything, but it felt like a giant hand was holding me.

_Miyo. It couldn't be anyone else. I've seen that doll she's made, and I know how she uses her jutsu. Well, __**stay out of this, Miyo…this is between Naruto and me!**_ I advanced my curse mark to its second state, and when that didn't break me loose, I turned my new claws up towards the invisible hand…

**Miyo**

Suddenly, ten sharp needlepoints jabbed into my fingers! "Yowch!" I let go of the doll and looked into my sleeve…

**Sasuke**

The invisible hand let go.

_Hm. I hadn't been sure that would work._ Then I reached behind my back, made a grabbing motion with my hand, and gave a good yank…

**Miyo**

Little Sasuke, who'd changed dramatically, grabbed hold of the thread with some new almost-hands and pulled hard, yanking the button right out of his back! As he let go of the thread and fell back into the recesses of my sleeve, he returned to normal.

_Sasuke…_

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: As you readers probably have already guessed, Miyo officially considers the mission a failure, since - as she reads from Naruto - Sasuke gets away._**


	19. That's Strange

**_That's Strange..._**

* * *

><p><strong>Naruto<strong>

I woke up on Kakashi-sensei's back. Some other ninja came by while we were heading back to the village. Apparently, Shikamaru was only barely hurt, Kiba was worse off than him, and Choji was in critical condition. They were kinda confused about Neji. He was suffering from blood loss, but nothing more.

Even with what I knew about Sasuke, I couldn't help but smile. _Miyo._

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

I lay back in bed and sighed. Lady Tsunade had told me that the state of the team could have been much worse if I hadn't had my healing jutsu. "However, you still have a lot to learn about your own talent. Choji could have died."

Sleep eluded me. I couldn't stop looking at the pinpricks in my hand. _Little Sasuke grew claws. I didn't think that was even possible! I'll have to learn a lot more about my own jutsu._

I hadn't realized it before, but I'd made my own brand-new jutsu the day I joined Naruto's family with those dolls. I still need to figure out the rules for it, and perfect my entire technique.

And it felt like I was running out of time.

* * *

><p>Jiraiya came by briefly the next day to tell me that he was taking Naruto and Sakura out on a mission to investigate the Village of Sound. "You'll be fine, right? I heard that you have a bit of a problem spending nights alone."<p>

I rolled my eyes. "You make me sound like a three-year-old who's still scared of the dark. Besides, who told you that anyway?"

"Your sensei, Iruka."

"All he knows is what you said just now." I sighed. "The problem is…let's just say, your old pal Orochimaru came to visit me one night, and I've had nightmares ever since."

That stopped him short. "He came to visit _you_?"

"Only when I've got something of Naruto's energy with me do those nightmares stay away."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Sure it does…"

"Why would Orochimaru come to see you? When was this, anyway?"

_Oh, that's what he latched onto._ "This was about seven years ago. I was five."

"Five?" He thought hard, scrutinizing me. Then his expression slid into something resembling panic. "He didn't – "

"Whatever you're thinking, the answer is no. He showed up, said something about Koga, and left." I wasn't going to mention what else he did. There wasn't any point – it wasn't whatever was going on in Jiraiya's filthy mind.

"Koga? Your brother, right?"

"Yeah."

"Something's not right about this…I'll look into it while we're on our mission."

**Jiraiya**

"Just so I'm clear on what I'm looking into…what _did_ Orochimaru say when you two…met?"

She shivered. "Those words have been burned into my brain." She straightened up a little, tossed her head back, and started mimicking him. "So you're Miyo Diatra. Your dear brother has told me a great deal about you, and about how you could grow to become a strong ninja. I look forward to seeing you as a genin."

That _really_ didn't sound right. Especially since… "What night did you say this was?"

Miyo dropped the impersonation. "The night of my learning Koga was dead."

"And you're sure Orochimaru said 'has'?"

"Did I say 'has'?" She thought about that. "Huh; I did. And that's exactly what he said."

The number of things wrong with this picture was too many to count right now. For one thing, that wasn't the right tense to use. Orochimaru may be a lot of things, but a flat-out liar isn't one of them, or it hadn't been the last time I knew him.

And he'd all but said that Koga Diatra was still alive.


	20. One Last Conversation

_**One Last Conversation**_

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

When I woke up the next morning, I was disturbed to find that Little Sasuke had been on the move. He was just lying there face-down on the floor.

I sighted along his body, staring in the direction he was going.

The results gave me shivers: his head was pointing straight for my locked box.

"No. No, no, _**no!**_ You are _not_ going anywhere _near_ that box, do you hear me Sasuke?" I grabbed the doll off the floor, carried him over to the Teacher Shelf, and plunked him down between Kakashi and Lady Tsunade.

Then I studied him for a minute, thinking. Making up my mind and picking up the doll, I opened Kai's closet.

I threw together my prep work, pulled on one button-armband and then activated my jutsu.

* * *

><p>Sasuke, evidently, was doing weapons work. Fortunately, Kai goes unarmed, so he was throwing imaginary weapons.<p>

I waited until he looked like he was taking a break. Then I took three steps over and punched his shoulder. "All right, Sasuke, we need to talk."

His double-take was hilarious; he spun around to face me, brandishing a fist, and then stopped. I'd never seen him look so confused. "Miyo?" he said, turning his head this way and that.

"Give it a rest, Sasuke, you can't see me because I'm not actually there. You know, I hadn't been sure that would work; I mean, with the curse mark and the distance and all." _I hadn't been sure that would work __**at all**__, to be completely honest._

His eyes finally drifted back to me again. He might not have been able to see me, but Kai's ears had told him about where I was standing. "So what do you want, anyway?" he asked, reaching around towards his back.

"Well, for one thing, don't bother trying to pull the thread out this time. I'm wise up to that move, and won't let you do so until I consider this conversation done." _Besides, you won't find it; the thread's in a different spot than the last time._ "Second, my opening remark was 'we need to talk,' I believe."

Sasuke's hands fell back to his sides. The look he was giving me was pure frustration. "So…what's your question?"

"Why'd you leave the village? Kakashi and everyone else had such high hopes for you as a shinobi!" Guesswork, but it was fairly obvious.

He stood quietly for so long that for a minute I thought he wouldn't answer. Then he apparently figured out that I wasn't going to release him until he said something. "This jutsu of yours: can I use my own ninjutsu to escape it?"

"No." _No idea, that is._

"And if I tried to leave by conventional means…"

"I'll give you odds on walking into my bedroom wall."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine. I'll answer your question. The reason I left was because I wasn't getting stronger fast enough. Lord Orochimaru has promised me power beyond even Naruto's wildest dreams."

"Let me see if I got this: you don't think you're getting strong enough to best your traitorous brother quickly enough, so you decided to join the biggest disgrace to the ninja way in history?"

Sasuke glared at me.

_Knock it off, Miyo, you know he can't see you. The most he can do is glare in my direction._ It was still unnerving, though.

"Oh, don't give me that look, you know Orochimaru's a big liar. He says freedom and gives death instead. Has he told you anything about me or my brother Koga?"

I confused him; that was plain on his face. "You? Your brother?"

"Next time you and Orochi talk, ask him about Koga Diatra. Ask him what happened. I guarantee you won't get a straight answer, or if you do, it'll be that he butchered him like a trapped pig!"

"Are you done?"

I sighed. "Obviously, you've chosen to ignore every word I said."

A minute was spent in silence. I think Sasuke could tell I'd looked away in disdain; my energy isn't that hard to read even if I'm not technically in the same room.

"Miyo."

I deigned to glance in his direction.

"I'll ask about your brother, if only to bring you closure. I can't imagine…spending life not knowing what happened to someone…that you cared about."

I studied him for a minute. His expression was sincere, or at least as close to sincere as the guy ever got. So I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him, the first time I'd ever attempted to hug him.

He froze for a second, but apparently figured out that this was how I was going to say goodbye and hugged me back.

"I'm not going to contact you again in this manner, Sasuke. You find out about Koga, you need to find a way to contact me...you Sharingan Killer Squirrel." Then I moved my hands, found Kai's zipper-pouch, and tugged the zippers apart without ending the jutsu.

Sasuke's hands gripped my nightgown and he let out a grunt of pain.

Then I decided that I'd taken enough revenge for the pinpricks he'd given me and ended the jutsu.

Once no longer controlled by Sasuke's actions, Kai's hands loosened their grip on my nightgown, and I put the dolls away, tying up Little Sasuke first. I gave a reflective thought towards Kai's closet. "I should use that technique to talk to Naruto while he's out."

Finding out that I had that particular technique helped me feel less lonely.

* * *

><p><strong>Sasuke<strong>

My arm circle collapsed as Miyo's form left, and I staggered without the invisible support. Rubbing my back, I glared at where I'd perceived her. _She just had to get some of her own back for what I did, didn't she__?_ "Sharingan Killer Squirrel, huh?" I repeated, and I couldn't help but smile. "Well, doll-master, I'll still ask Lord Orochimaru what happened. And who knows, maybe I will manage to get to you in order to give you the information. We'll see."

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

I barely finished getting dressed when I heard a knock at the door. It was a weak knock, which could have been anywhere from someone hesitant or someone weak.

Opening the door, I saw Neji standing there. He looked like he'd played hookey from the hospital, and frankly looked just worn enough to where he clearly shouldn't have left yet. "Miyo, I..." He barely got that out before he started tipping forward, his eyelids flickering shut.

My hands hit his shoulders, keeping him from falling on me. "Steady there, Neji! Whatever it is, you shouldn't be up yet!"

Then Neji's hands slipped through my sleeves, and the next thing I knew, Neji was hugging me - actually hugging _me_ and not my sweatshirt!

It was just dawning on me that Neji had been faking how bad off he was when he said into my ear, "I've been meaning to thank you for healing me. And not so you'd notice, but your ultimate defense has a weakness."

_No kidding!_ But who cared? I hugged him back. "You're welcome. And thanks for pointing out my weak spot; I'll be sure to make allowances."


	21. Taking a New Path

_**Taking a New Path**_

* * *

><p><strong>Miyo<strong>

After hearing from Sakura that the Hidden Sand Village was starting an academy with Temari, Kankuro and Gaara as the instructors, I sat down and wrote a note for Gaara. Then I rolled it up into a thin scroll and looked at it. "Silly me: how am I going to get this to the Hidden Sand Village, anyway? I have no good message-carrying system, and I don't even know where the village is!"

Then I felt a tap on my arm. Turning, I saw Little Gaara just standing there, holding out both arms.

I sighed. "Well, I've got nothing to lose." Picking him up, I pulled the cork out of his gourd and shoved the note inside. Or tried to, anyway; I had to unroll it and re-roll it to make it thin enough to fit through the narrow opening. It fit inside…barely. Then I put the cork back in the gourd. "There. Do what you want with that thing. I don't care at this point."

**Gaara**

I sensed how all the other students chose Temari and Kankuro as their instructors. The only child to choose me was a girl named Matsuri. She had potential…if she could only figure that out herself. That much was revealed to me on the first day.

Then some of my sand sprang free of its gourd!

My own control over my emotions kept me from revealing how startled I was, but all my sand did was circle around and drop a small, thin scroll into my hand. Then it returned to my gourd.

_At least if that was going to happen, it waited until Matsuri was occupied._ I broke the seal and unrolled the scroll.

"_Dear cousin, I heard you were starting an academy over there – or, well, that Temari was starting it, and you were one of the instructors. How's it going? Do you have any students yet? You know, I'd be surprised if I heard you had a lot of students, since I remember you being a little nerve-racking at the Chunin Exams,_" that's putting it mildly, I believe_, _"_but I know some students find dangerous people…what's the word I want to use…intriguing. My prediction is that you've got at least one student right now. One thing you've got to remember about having students – or friends, for that matter, since I have no real experience with teaching – is that communication is key. Part of me wishes that cross-village training was an option, because I'd consider it an honor to work with you. Your cousin, Miyo Diatra._"

I stared at the note for a long minute. How had Miyo gotten this inside my gourd? Then my mind called up an image: her little doll that looked like me. Suddenly, I figured I knew what she did. She put the note into the miniature's gourd, and some sort of energy had transferred it into my gourd! But how had she known that would work?

Then I smiled. I couldn't help it. _She probably hadn't had a clue this would happen. There's still so much about her jutsu that I doubt she even knows. I almost wish that I could work with her, as well._

* * *

><p>Then…the unthinkable happened. Our village was attacked, and Matsuri was captured! And it was because of me!<p>

I wrote a small note of my own as my team and I set off after the Four Celestials, and I shoved it into my own gourd.

"Gaara," Temari had noticed, "what are you doing?"

"Sending word to the Hidden Leaf Village." _If it works, that is._

**Miyo**

Shikamaru gathered a few of us together at the gate, and he included me. We had to run backup on Gaara's team, to save Gaara's student.

I'd been holding Little Gaara in my hand when suddenly the cork popped out of his gourd! I barely managed to catch the note that flew out!

"What is that, Miyo?" Lee asked as I unrolled it.

My eyes scanned back and forth across the paper. It was even shorter than my message had been. "_If our message system is any good, the Hidden Leaf Village has probably already learned of what has happened. Hope to speak with you at a later time. And yes, this personal way of sending messages works._"

"Apparently…I can communicate with Gaara somehow."

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched. "The main reason I called you here is because I'm aware of your connection with Gaara. I hadn't realized you two were on speaking terms, not that it makes any difference. Since you're naturally cautious and have the advantage of looking completely ineffective as a ninja, you can travel on your own, but watch yourself."

"Always, Shikamaru."

And so we set off. Everyone else was to be in groups of two: Ino and Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba, and Naruto and Lee. Our basic backup was Hinata, Neji, Shino and Sakura.

_Gaara…I'm coming, cousin._

Personally, I suspected Shikamaru of being half in love with Temari. I was never going to say that to his face, though.

* * *

><p>After a while, we stopped and waited, probably for some basic direction to go. I was relieved; There's only so much my Sand-ninja dolls can do, and while Little Gaara could probably point the way to his original, I couldn't track in three directions at once.<p>

Then Shino's bugs came swarming around Shikamaru!

"Okay! What's the word?"

The bugs swarmed up and shaped words. Typical. I was going to have to smack Shino one for his bugs' sense of humor. Nevertheless, I read the notes myself and chose to follow Naruto and Lee towards Gaara. I wouldn't engage…there.

* * *

><p><strong>Gaara<strong>

I was nearly done in, but Lee and Naruto came to save me!

"Miyo's around here somewhere. Heck, maybe she's waiting for you to meet up with her so that you two can save your student!"

**Miyo**

Okay…it would help if I actually had a plan. I chased the guy all the way into a valley, hoping that Gaara would catch up soon.

Well…he finally did…completely out of chakra, or nearly so. And after the creep ditched the girl from his back and powered himself up with armor and weapons, all I could do was use my threads to pull the girl towards me and out of harm's way.

_Come on, Miyo…plan…__**plan…**_

I freed her from her prison and told her, "Stay here. If Gaara needs any help, I'll give it to him."

"Okay!"

Naruto tried against the guy, but got knocked back. I pulled out my Gaara doll and stitched up Gaara's injury while he protected Naruto. But then he got trapped inside an iron dome!

Naruto and I effectively ganged up on the guy, trying to get him to release Gaara. But he chose to sacrifice himself to restore an ultimate weapon, reviving a dead man!

While Naruto charged the guy, I rushed the dome, pulling off my sweatshirt and spinning as fast as I could to tunnel down underground to try to get to Gaara from underneath!

By the time Naruto got the same idea, I had already vanished underground, so the guy kept fighting Naruto without even noticing I was there. When I came up inside the dome, though, I sensed that Gaara was starting to lose control! "Gaara?"

He turned to glare at me, and then broke the dome! I was still on the floor below his mutated form, unsure if I should try to move. Sand was dripping onto my head, trickling through my hair and mingling with my sweat.

Then, finally, I moved – I reached up and caught hold of his clothes, pulling myself slowly to my feet, kind of under his mutated right arm. Weirdly enough, I wasn't afraid right there.

"I got your note. Gaara, I don't fear you. I said that before, and I'll say it again: whatever you are, I don't fear you, I see you as family."

**Temari**

"Is Miyo completely out of her mind? If Gaara decides to go for it, she's going to become the first casualty!"

"No," Naruto suddenly spoke, "she won't."

We all stared at him as if _he_ was the one out of his mind.

"You guys don't get it. She's faced this side of Gaara before. He knows her, and he knows she's not scared of him. He asked her why she wasn't back then…and I'm not sure she gave the true complete answer. He definitely won't kill her until he learns the answer to his question."

"You're awfully sure of yourself there."

He just nodded. "I know. But I know my adopted sister, and she knows him better than almost anyone else I know."

**Gaara**

Even while half-shifted into the Shukaku, I felt arms wind around my chest. _Miyo?_ She was…she was willing her strength into me, begging me to fight the demon within me and get it back under control!

And, with effort, I fought myself back to normal. And for the record, it wasn't Miyo that convinced me to get back under control: I had already been pushing it back. She just gave me a little helping hand.

Only Miyo was keeping me upright. She kept me away from the flying blades. When we landed…

"Miyo…" I whispered, "keep me upright…just a little longer. I'm almost done."

"No problem. Glad to help," she breathed right back.

Then I called up a sand tsunami, leaving only Miyo and myself standing. My other friends all dodged.

Seimei once again started draining chakra from both myself and Miyo, and I felt her waver. And yet, even as I formed my last weapon, I could feel her constantly adjusting her grip so that she wouldn't impede my movement. And with one final blow, I finished off his chakra-draining armor and destroyed him, reburying him using the sands I'd called up.

Then I blacked out.

**Miyo**

As Gaara lost consciousness, I sagged under his weight. And thanks to my own chakra being depleted, I couldn't remain standing with him. We both fell over, and he landed on top of me. Good thing there was a lot of sand underneath, making me a nice pillow.

_Little Gaara…please bring my sweatshirt back to the surface, would you?_

Turning my head just a tad, I spotted a small whirlpool of sand form more or less where I remembered leaving my sweatshirt. Then the sand slid back into place…with my sweatshirt on top…and Little Gaara lying on top of that.

* * *

><p>The next day, the Sand ninja were about ready to leave. Then Gaara suddenly looked back. "Oh…Miyo."<p>

"Huh?"

"I have talked this over with your Hokage…with my Kazekage…and with Matsuri." He turned around again. "There really isn't anyone else in the Hidden Leaf Village to spare for your training…so they've agreed to let me train you alongside Matsuri for a couple of years."

I felt as if someone had just hit me in the head. "Are you kidding?"

"I'm not known in the Sand Village for my sense of humor." He turned again and started walking away. "I know you can track us. You have thirty minutes to gather what you need, say your goodbyes and catch up."

That near-ultimatum was what decided me. I ran over to him, used my sleeves to hook his arms up, and hugged him, giving him the option of actually hugging me back as opposed to my sweatshirt (which he didn't actually take, though I sensed that I surprised him). Then I dashed back to Naruto's place, threw all my things into a bag, and then bounded off to find the people I found important to give my farewells to. Neji looked like there was a lot he wanted to say, but he couldn't bring himself to say any of it. It left me glad I was coming home in two years.

I only left behind one thing of mine, using Little Gaara's technique of Sand Burial under the house so that Naruto wouldn't find it: the locked box. I knew that this meant I was running away from my problems…but I would return someday.

And then Orochimaru would have his hands full.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>


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